What followed was three days of intense competition, during which Knee beat almost everyone who challenged him, including Arslan “Arslan Ash” Siddique, the surprise Pakistani competitor who had previously defeated Knee at both Evo and Evo Japan en route to first place finishes at both events. And the Pakistani players ate it up Knee was greeted both at the airport and a local game centre with gifts and applause, owing to his legacy as one of the greatest Tekken competitors of all time.

It was a no brainer for Knee to visit Pakistan ahead of the upcoming Tekken World Tour finals, both as a way to learn from a country that hasn’t had much representation on a global level and show respect to the local fighting game community for its explosive debut. What should have been a simple opportunity for these players to learn from one another, however, became a mini controversy when two of the country’s best avoided playing the South Korean visitor altogether.

The country has garnered so much attention, in fact, that South Korean veteran Jae-Min “Knee” Bae travelled there last week to train for the Tekken World Tour finals this weekend. Over the last year, Pakistan’s fighting game community has risen from relative obscurity to a place of prominence thanks to a handful of its players winning major Tekken 7 tournaments on the world stage.

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