This year's edition of the Electronic Sports World Cup is going on in San Jose, California right now. This annual tournament gathers the best of the best in various of gaming's top disciplines.

Serious Gaming/Team Razer is represented strongly at the 200.000$ event with players in Defense of the Ancients, Quake III and Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. Unfortunately reigning Quake world champion Maciej 'av3k' Krzykowski was denied a visa to enter the USA and will therefore be unable to prolong his title.

The players representing Serious Gaming are:

Alexey 'Cypher' Yanusheuski (Q3) - 1st
Clement 'Soycd' Rodmacq (DotA) - 7/8th
Loic 'Kiram' Renoullin (DotA) - 7/8th
Kovacevic 'SilentCat' Marko  (DotA) - 7/8th
Olivier 'darkarax4' Barriere (DotA) - 7/8th
Thomas 'Jester' Wolff (DotA) - 7/8th
Kevin 'RotterdaM' van der Kooi (WC3) - 17/24th
Nikolaus 'SonKiE' Cassidy (WC3) - 17/24th
Hjalmar 'DowaQ' Högberg (WC3) - 17/24th

Alexey 'Cypher' Yanusheuski (Quake III)
2nd place ESWC 2006
1st place ESWC Masters 2008
1st place QuakeCon 2008

Considered one of the favorites for the event, Cypher will be the sole defender of our Quake world title. Reaching the ESWC 2006 finals was the kick-off of his professional gaming career and he will be looking to reach his second one but with a different result.

Cypher vs. ESWC
0-2 SK.Rapha - August 25 21:00 CET
2-0 4K^Noctis - August 25 23:30 CET
2-0  Impulse*LLL - August 26 0:30 CET
2-0 Toxter - August 26 1:30 CET
2-1 aAa*Linkin - August 26 2:30 CET
2-0 EG.czm - August 26 6:30 CET
2-1 EG.Chance - August 26 19:00 CET
2-1 K1llsen - August 26 20:00 CET
2-0 SK.Rapha - August 26 22:00 CET
2-0 K1llsen

Serious Gaming Defense of the Ancients (DotA)
1st place ESWC France
2nd Miage Lan
5th place ESWC Masters

-  Clement 'Soycd' Rodmacq
-  Loic 'Kiram' Renoullin 
-  Kovacevic 'SilentCat' Marko
-  Olivier 'darkarax4' Barriere 
-  Thomas 'Jester' Wolff

The French champions have been preparing for this event for a long time. Among the best DotA teams in the world, they will be finding out exactly where they stand in the world rankings. Their latest online results have been extremely encouraging, including a win vs. Masters vice-champion TeG.

Serious[Razer]DotA vs. ESWC
0-1 Evil Geniuses - August 25 19:00 CET
1-0 SK Gaming - August 25 20:30 CET
0-1 KingSurf - August 25 23:30 CET
1-0 S3X - August 26 1:00 CET
0-1 NAFU- August 26 2:30 CET

Kevin 'RotterdaM' van der Kooi (Warcraft III)
1st EuroCup 2006
5th ACON 5
9th ESWC 2007

One of Europe's leading Orc players, RotterdaM will be competing at his third ESWC event. He has had time to prepare for the event but will face a tough group.

1-2 WE.Sky - August 25 19:00 CET
0-2 SK.ReiGn - August 25 20:00 CET
2-0 Darkdancer - August 25 23:30 CET

Nikolaus 'SonKiE' Cassidy (Warcraft III)
1st WCG Pan-America 2008
1st WCG USA Open 2008
1st ESWC USA 2008

The American champion player will be entering his first ESWC with a homeground advantage. He has been training a lot and is eager to leave a mark at the event.

1-2 Bonecracker - August 25 19:00 CET
2-1  aAa*Wolf - August 25 20:00 CET
2-0 Firestrike - August 25 21:00 CET
0-2 mTw-WhO - August 25 23:30 CET

Hjalmar 'DowaQ' Högberg (Warcraft III)
2nd Dreamhack Winter 2007
2nd ESWC Sweden 2008
2nd KODE5 Sweden

The Swedish talent will be making his international debute. In the past year he has beaten a host of experienced professional gamers in tournaments taking place in Sweden and he will now be learning how he himself stacks up internationally.

forfeit win HasuElf - August 25 19:00 CET
1-2 FiX - August 25 20:00 CET
0-0 PaulYan - August 25 21:00 CET
0-2 SK.Soju - August 25 23:30 CET

Selection of Serious Gaming in media (links)

SK Gaming - Cypher crowned as ESWC 2008 champion
MeetYourMakers - videointerview: srs.RotterdaM
SK Gaming - Pre-ESWC interviews: RotterdaM, SonkiE
ESreality - ESWC 2008 Interviews with Cypher & av3k
SK Gaming - Cypher's real challenge comes in America 
Fragster - Alle gegen Cypher
ESreality - No av3k at ESWC finals
SK Gaming - US embassy denies av3k ESWC title hopes