At 39 years old, Street Fighter legend Daigo Umehara is keen on proving that age is just a number when it comes to being a champion.
This past weekend had the Capcom Cup East Asia online qualifier, a new style of qualifier created by the Capcom Pro Tour in response to the coronavirus pandemic causing in-person events to be cancelled. Several online qualifiers will be hosted in varying regions to determine which players qualify for the final Capcom Pro Tour tournament.
While not the optimal way to compete, online play is the best option we have, all things considered. And the fact that it’s netplay didn’t stop various Capcom Pro Tour and EVO legends from entering this bracket either.
Yet it was Daigo who came out on top, defeating players such as Tokido and Fuudo to continue his streak of securing a spot in the Capcom Pro Tour final.
Daigo has continued to compete at a high level in Street Fighter V, and his streams have become a valuable resource on how to practice, analyze and teach the fundamentals of fighting games. His meticulous approach to figuring out high-level Street Fighter has been a key component in his continued presence at the top in multiple Street Fighter games.
While he hasn’t dominated as he has in previous times, this tournament was a reminder that The Beast can still take home the gold against stacked competition when everything clicks together.
Notable sets included his winners’ semifinal match against longtime rival Tokido. They used their textbook Street Fighter V characters, with Daigo using Guile and Tokido using Akuma, but Daigo ended up winning the set, as he continues to have an edge over Tokido.
It was the grand finals where things became too close to call; Fuudo ended up taking the first set to make it a winner-takes-all best of 5 match to see who would win the qualifier. As these high level games tend to do, it ended up going down to the final game:
Daigo’s fundamentals are on full display, as he perfectly conditions and reacts to the jump that allows him to seal the tournament with a strong punish.
James Chen’s reaction to Daigo winning sums up how many people felt when seeing the legend take home the gold: there’s just nothing better than The Beast reclaiming the throne.
