Daigo crowned SSFIV champion at EVO APAC

Over the weekend Sydney played host to the EVO APAC finals, the Asia-Pacific arm of the world's largest and longest-running fighting games tournament. Held for the first time in Australia and organised by OzHadou (an online community that runs fighting game tournaments locally), the tournament challenged players in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and Super Street Fighter IV.

Reigning EVO Street Fighter IV champion Daigo Umehara (Tokyo, Japan) beat local player Jonny Cheng, aka "Humanbomb" (Sydney, Australia), to the top spot in the tournament. Both players have won the chance to attend and compete in the upcoming SSFIV championship at EVO 2010 in Las Vegas from July 9-11.

But Umehara's win wasn't flawless: third-place runner-up Mike Guida, aka "ToXY" (Melbourne, Australia), made things difficult for the reigning champion by staging a coup in a match upset. Despite the loss, Umehara won the remaining two matches to come out on top.

Umehara is best known for his performance at the EVO 2004 Street Fighter III tournament, where he staged a miraculous near-death comeback against American champion Justin Wong. Videos of the match have since become an Internet phenomenon.

Stay tuned to Crosshairs next week for interviews with the top three players of the day.