Barcelona people Jonathan Medina has become the first Spaniard to qualify for the world finals of a fighting video game Tekken 7, a feat he had to pay for out of his own pocket as he did not have a team or sponsor, as his competitors did.

Better known as Tibet, his nickname is di TekkenMedina was born in Ecuador in 1999 but has lived in Barcelona since he was a baby and combines his role as a ‘gamer’ with that of administration in communications companies, the lack of support forced him to look for work to support himself, he explained in an interview with Efe.

On October 29, in an international Tekken tournament – a video game consisting of fights between two characters, such as Street Fighter – held in Puerto Rico, Medina won first place and qualified for the Tekken World Tour 2023, the world finals, which will be held in New Orleans (United States) on January 12 and 13.

To the world cup, alone

Ranked 16th in the world, this final will bring them together 20 best players in the world, most of them are Pakistani and South Korean citizens.

They are all professional players who dedicate themselves exclusively to it Tekken and they have sponsors or teams behind them that pay them, except for Medina, who covers all travel costs to tournaments held around the world himself.

“Out of the top 20, I’m the only one who doesn’t have a team. Everyone has a team. There are those who live from this, yes. They have a fixed salary per month and they don’t do anything other than play Tekken,” Medina told me about his competitors, some of whom has sponsors and does advertising campaigns for big brands like Red Bull.

Their situation is commonplace in Spain, considering that no company or team bets on this video game, even though there is a lot of talent in the country.

“Spain can be among the three best countries in Europe and in the top ten in the world. “There are talents who can compete internationally, but the infrastructure, sponsors and teams that pay for the existing young talents are still lacking,” stressed Medina.

Dreams come true

Almost a month after this feat, it is still difficult for him to get a picture of what he has achieved and he is grateful to the community of followers who supported him, and who got through to him. small contribution He donated nearly 800 euros to help defray the costs of the trip to Puerto Rico.

Although last year he had a team that covered his expenses for competing and gave him support, such as a sports psychologist, At the end of 2022 it closed and in 2023 Medina went on his own journey: “I decided to invest a lot of money that I had saved to try it, and if it doesn’t happen, then it doesn’t happen, but I don’t want to give up because this is what I am” I want to reach the world final.”

Winning this tournament in Puerto Rico was the “last bullet” he had to qualify for the World Cup, a dream he had longed for for years and in which he had invested his savings, which were dwindling with travel to compete in countries such as Dubai, Greece, Netherlands, France, England, Sweden or Germany.

Although the balance between money invested and money won in competitions remains negativeQualifying for the world finals, as well as the European tournament to be held in Madrid on December 16 and 17, means he can still recover: $100,000 is distributed to the world finalists, and $50,000 to the winner. , while in The European, the prizes amount to 25,000 euros and the first requires 10,000 euros.

“My main goal is winning the Tekken World Tour and European Cup. “I know it’s very difficult because the best in the world are leaving, but I think I can do it,” said Medina, who, however, admitted that he would be satisfied if he finished among the five best in the world, while for Europe he hopes to finish in top three positions.

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It was in 2016 when Medina did it your first contact with Tekken, playing with his brothers for no other purpose than having fun, but after winning several amateur tournaments held at a bar in his neighborhood, he catches the bug and enters the competition circuit, discovering a new world “and how bad it is”.

After thousands of hours of practice and countless hours of studying character moves, Medina now focuses his preparation on the mental part, controlling his own nerves and knowing how to play and exploit others: “I’ve seen players who are much better than me, but in tournaments their hands shake and they don’t even give combos.”