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Last weekend was a fighting game tournament twofer in Street Fighter V. Both Summer Jam X in Philadelphia and E-Sports Festival Hong Kong 2016 were Capcom Pro Tour Ranking events, which meant they contributed points towards winners standings in the 2016 Pro Tour. Both victors were well-known players: Team Liquids Du NuckleDu Dang won Summer Jam X and Red Bull athlete and Twitch-sponsored player Daigo The Beast Umehara took down the tournament in Hong Kong. More importantly, last weekend provided a great overview of the contrasting styles and overall differences between the Western and Eastern hemispheres in a game played around the world.Character loyaltyA common generalization in the fighting game community with character selection is that Western players pick characters to win while Asian players stick it out with their main choice. This pattern does not necessarily hold up all the time, but it was one of the largest differences between both tournaments top eight matches.None of the players that participated on the final day in Hong Kong switched characters in a set after their initial choice. On the other side, Summer Jam X was littered with character changes. Most notably, the grand final of the tournament was won by NuckleDus secondary character, Rainbow Mika, instead of his main squeeze Nash. In addition, two other players in the top eight, namely Circa eSports Long LPN Nguyen and Flipsid3 Tactics Antwan Alucard Ortiz, switched off between grapplers and all-out aggressive characters depending on the opponent. Alucard switched to Balrog to fight against Vega instead of his usual Necalli, and LPN alternated between playing Alex and Birdie depending on whether the characters game plan succeeded.As for the Asian players, it was less about character selection and more about dramatic adaptation in their play. No match fit this description best than the set between HuomaoTVs Johnny HumanBomb Cheng and Zowie Bruce Gamerbee Hsiang. Gamerbee took a controlling 2-0 lead in the set with beautiful spacing and unpredictable jump timings. The commentators highlighted HumanBombs offensive struggles against Gamerbees great defense, noting that he was not abusing Chun-Lis instant air kicks or applying the necessary pressure typical of the character. Then, HumanBomb adjusted his anti-airs and controlled the space by moving forward instead of attacking the neutral with buttons. The 2-0 lead disappeared into a tie before Gamerbee adjusted once more and played in a reactionary way to win the set. There were no character changes to manipulate the pace of the match; this could be called old-fashioned Street Fighter.Parity in the sceneAnother major difference between the Eastern and Western tournaments was the parity of competition. In one region, a consistent set of competitors took the top slots as usual, and in the other there was a sense of unpredictability for the top eight because of the larger field of skilled competitors.Summer Jam X was a standard North American tournament in terms of results; the same top players continued to dominate the field. Although this was NuckleDus first Capcom Pro Tour victory, he had already been placing near the top of past major tournaments. On one hand, seeing the rewards of hard work and consistency is a great thing for the community. However, its also discouraging to see a lack of new blood at the top, despite plenty of competitors. If the same names litter the top eight of every major tournament, it will create player narratives because of the constant exposure, but it will also shave off much of the suspense and excitement of an underdog story. The idea that Street Fighter V caters to a new generation of players and anyone can break into the elite may not hold up well if the results of Western events start to look like carbon copies of each other.On the other hand, Umehara won his first Street Fighter V tournament ever at E-Sports Festival Hong Kong 2016. For all the legend that surrounds Umehara himself, he has not been as dominant in the larger competitive field as his moniker might imply. Although he was the favorite for this event, coming off of an unusually high second-place finish at Well Played Cup in Japan, he had to fight through fierce competition from all over the standings to earn his crown.In Asia, even the likes of giants Hajime Tokido Taniguchi and Team Razers Lee Infiltration Seon-woo are not guaranteed wins amid so many highly skilled players. Umeharas fellow top eight competitors included not only Hiroyuki HM|Eita Nagata (17th overall in the Capcom Pro Tour standings) and Team Razers Kun Xian Ho (sixth overall in the standings), but also Gamerbee (48th) and Humanbomb (68th). The fact that the 48th-ranked player can take third at a Capcom Pro Tour Ranking event is not evidence of a low caliber of competition but rather a skilled competitor pool of great depth and parity. As a result, in Asia theres no telling who might take the next tournament, and the top eight tends to vary greatly from competition to competition. The takeaway from Hong Kong is that Umehara pulled off an outstanding performance and Gamerbee and Humanbomb can be considered serious contenders in the scene once again.Custom Nike Minnesota Twins Jerseys . The judges scored it 48-47, 48-47, 49-46 for Jones (19-1). It was the champions closest call. Despite the loss, it was a remarkable show by the confident Swedish challenger, who had the best of the early rounds and then hung on in the fourth and fifth. Custom Nike St. Louis Cardinals Jerseys . -- Tony Stewart is 20 pounds lighter and has a titanium rod in his surgically repaired right leg. https://www.customnikebaseballjerseys.com/ . While hell be dialed in to that tournament on a course he loves, you can forgive him if his eyes glance down the calendar just a bit, towards April. Cheap Custom Nike Baseball Jerseys Free Shipping . -- Adam Snyder returned to the San Francisco 49ers this season because the offensive lineman thought it was his best opportunity to win a championship. Custom Nike Washington Nationals Jerseys . General manager Jarmo Kekalainen told Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch on Friday that he wants to see Gaboriks contributions go beyond the scoresheet before considering a long-term deal for the soon-to-be unrestricted free agent.PATERSON, N.J. -- The small, non-air-conditioned boxing room was filled with steamy air and body odor as a grunting, 6-foot-6 figure ruthlessly rained down punishing punches on a heavy bag.Tucked into an abandoned factory building in Paterson, New Jersey, Chinese heavyweight boxer Zhang Zhilei trained and prepared for his next bout, surrounded by decades-old posters and a washed-out red carpet.After retiring from amateur boxing, Zhang -- a super heavyweight silver medalist at the Beijing Olympics -- went pro in 2014 by signing a four-year contract with New Jersey-based American boxing promoter Dino Duva. Since then, Zhang has snatched a 12-0 record with eight knockouts -- including Fridays eight-round heavyweight victory over Georgian boxer Gogita Gorgiladze in Wenzhou, an eastern Chinese city.Give me one more year, two at most, and I will become somebody, Zhang told ESPN in early September.Life as a professional boxer is defined by discipline, featuring different types of conditioning and strength workouts six days each week -- jumping rope, lifting, movements, punching and pair practicing.On training days, Zhang would begin his day with a 6-mile morning run at a park in Bloomfield, New Jersey. The rest of his daily routine consists of eating, working out and resting, all of which are way too familiar to the 33-year-old who has been a professional athlete since his early teens.In fact, the challenging part of Zhangs life as a professional boxer is how to self-finance his training while living in the United States. He pays $50 a month to use the boxing club, including between $100 and $200 each time for pair training, on top of everything else, including rent and transporrtation.ddddddddddddIm getting used to it, Zhang said. The training is actually the same as I had in China.I didnt bring my wife and kids [to the U.S.]. They will distract me here.Back in his apartment, Zhang enjoys two distractions: cooking and making tea. As part of his strict diet plan, he eats only two meals each day, with plenty of fruits. When he is making tea -- normally his favorite, Longjing -- he follows the ritual of a tea ceremony, from which he says he has gained inspirations for the ring.Take one step at a time, he said. There is no quick success.Boxing is rarely discussed around the tea table. Instead, Zhang likes to open up about his sons homework, baseball games and finding the most authentic Chinese food in New Jersey.Duva shares a very similar mindset when it comes to scheduling the games, as he wants Zhang to be patient and focus on training first.Zhang Zhilei, Meng Fanlong and Wang Zhimin have made significant progress in the professional ranks since coming over to the U.S., Duva said, referring to Zhang and other Chinese boxers training in America. It took them a while to get used to the pro training and match structure, but now I believe they are without a doubt the best Chinese professional boxers. Their hard work and dedication is paying off, and they all are well on their way to fighting and becoming world champions as professional boxers.Said Zhang, I am one of the first to enter professional boxing. If the boxing world is still talking about me years later as a good fighter from China, I will be more than satisfied. ' ' '