Dominican Olympics Committee congratulates MenaRD on Capcom Cup victory

The official Olympic Committee for the Dominican Republic has congratulated professional Street Fighter player MenaRD for their victory at Capcom Cup. As the victor, they’re the final Street Fighter 5 champion as official tournaments prepare for the launch of Street Fighter 6.

“Excellent sunrise for all Dominicans, and Dominican esports. Saul Mena, Capcom Cup Champion.” writes the olympic committee on Twitter (translated via google translate), MenaRD has been a notable player since 2017, when he made a big impact as one of Latin America's best fighting game players.

MenaRD has also invested a lot of his winnings over the years into building up gaming communities in his region, which traditionally hasn’t got as much financial support as places like the USA, UK, or Japan. It was in 2017 following his first Capcom Cup victory that he donated a large portion of his $250,000 winnings to building up his local scene.

This was an especially notable tournament to win for several reasons. Upon its conclusion, it was announced that next year’s Capcom Cup will not only be exclusively focused on Street Fighter 6, but also have a $2,000,000+ prize pool, with $1,000,000 of that going to the champion. This is an astounding amount of money, especially compared to other fighting game events.

So while there were no Street Fighter 6 reveals, it was an exciting event for not just the people of the Dominican Republic, but also competitive-minded Street Fighter 6 players in general. Players tend to go where the money is, so with a financial incentive to go alongside a hype train that’s already full steam ahead, it’s looking more and more like Street Fighter 6 will make an enormous impact.

For more Street Fighter articles, check out our pieces on modders creating skins for Street Fighter 6 months before it comes out, as well as the recent end of Ireland’s largest video game tournaments.