KRIS NEWMAN - Photo courtesy Pandor Productions |
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Canadian Kris Newman made it to the final eight of the EA Sports Madden Challenge in Hawaii before being eliminated. The International EA Madden Challenge took place during NFL Pro Bowl weekend.
The 21-year-old University of Toronto literature student was one of 32 video game champions to make it to Hawaii after winning the Canadian final last month.
Newman won the Canadian final by leading the Cincinnati Bengals past the Indianapolis Colts. He joined 26 champs from the US plus other international representatives during Pro Bowl week with US $100,000 on the line.
More on the tournament, courtesy of www.gotfrag.com:
In what has been a long qualifying process, involving 32 qualifiers in 5 countries, the EA Madden Challenge Finals in Honolulu, Hawaii have wrapped up and a champion has been crowned. Ayan "Fool" Tariq from Ridgefield, NJ, winner of the Pittsburgh, PA qualifier, worked his way through the bracket to take the tournament. With him, Tariq will be taking a check from the EA Madden Challenge for $100,000 and all of the bragging rights for next year. Ayan Tariq, the youngest of the 32 qualifiers, is only 16 years old and is the younger brother of Shayan Tariq, became the youngest ever winner of the finals.
Tariq's victory in Hawaii came over William "Secret" Wolf, who finished 3rd-4th in last year's finals. Tariq's win in the finals over Wolf was not entirely unexpected. Going into the match, Wolf was heavily favored by the crowd. Tariq had been playing well all tournament, but Wolf was the fan favorite and had the experience of a strong finish last year. However, Wolf's utilization of Michael Vick and the Atlanta Falcons proved to be his downfall.
Considered by some to be "Michael Glitch" for his ability to dominate a game of Madden beyond his abilities in the NFL, Vick and the Falcons are an overall fan favorite and prefered team of many challengers. However, it was the lack of Vick that proved to be Wolf's achilles. In the finals match against Tariq, Wolf lost Vick on the fourth play of the game, forcing him to utilize Matt Schaab for the remainder of the game. Without the mobility of Vick to keep Tariq on his toes, the loss was nearly inevitable for Wolf. Despite a respectable effort, Wolf fell to Ayan "Fool" Tariq 23-10.
As always, the Madden Challenge was full of excitement and fun for all of the participants. The players were given a chance to meet some of the NFL's best players, also. In attendance at the finals were Deangelo Hall (Atlanta Falcons), Roy Williams (Detroit Lions), Antonio Gates (San Diego Chargers), Julius Peppers (Carolina Panthers), Marshall Faulk (St. Louis Rams) and fan favorite Chad Johnson (Cincinnati Bengals).
International qualifiers came to the event from Mexico, Canada, London and Germany. The four international qualifiers were all placed into the same section of the bracket and in the early rounds Canada's Kris Newman was victorious over London's Michael Turner 34-10. In the other matchup, Germany's Jan Pressler defeated Mexican qualifier Ernesto Fabian Galindez Najera 21-14. In the next round, it was Canada's Kris Newman who took home the win, 27-24. When asked about his matchup with Newman, Germany's Jan Pressler said, "The game [outside of Germany] is really different. In Germany you call a play and stick with it, but here you just call the same play every time and audible." From seeing his impressive run of victories over Canada's top talent, it is obvious that Newman's ability to call the right plays and execute well is one of his strongest talents as a rising Madden star.
Newman, using the Bengals, lost in the round of 8 (quarterfinals) to finalist William Wolf.
In other matches, Jarvis "Jarvis" Thomas, the winner of last year's event, went down in a close matchup. 2004 champion, Dave "The Sandman" Seithchik, failed to reach the final rounds as well. See below for a full look at the scores from the final rounds of the event.
