NAIROBI, Kenya, May 5 – Kenya’s Bilal Mohamed won the gamrX African Championship at the Landmark Convention Centre in Lagos, Nigeria on Saturday night.
The 25-year-old outclassed Nigeria’s Chukwudi Okoli 3-2 in a thrilling Street Fighter 6 final to complete an international debut to remember.
Mohamed said the victory motivates him to aim higher in his esports career and improve on his craft.
“The final was very tough and tight but I managed to clutch it out and went to the final round. I am looking forward to going back home and training very hard and hopefully get more opportunities to travel,” he said.
Mohammed is further hoping to see esports grow in the country and provide more talents with opportunities to grace international tournaments.
“I am looking forward to esports growing in Kenya and seeing more sponsors active in the scene and flying out players…and supporting them. We definitely have a lot of talents in Kenya that are going unnoticed,” Mohammed said.
Speaking at the same time, Esports Kenya president Ronny Lusigi described Mohamed’s win as an indicator of the potential of the sport for those engaged in it.
“A very big congratulations to Bilal for what he has done. He has really proven that the Kenyan esports players have the talent to compete at the highest level. As a federation, it gives us the motivation to continue supporting our players to go and play abroad,” Lusigi said.
He added: “This is just the beginning…we are going to support more of our players to play in international esports competitions and Kenyans should expect more trophies…more international trophies.”
The competition had participation from 12 African countries including Tanzania, Senegal, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Uganda, Cameroon, Angola and hosts Nigeria.
