South Korea President Yoon congratulates League Worlds winners
South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol has congratulated the League of Legends team T1 around Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok for their victory at the World Championship in Seoul.
Making quick work of Weibo, T1 took the finals in a clean 3-0, giving the organisation and Faker their fourth World Championship title.
Yoon commends South Korean esport
It's been a solid year for South Korean League of Legends, with the national team securing a victory at the Asia Games in Hangzhou, and now T1 winning the Worlds trophy.
Of the 39 players in the World quarterfinals, 21 of them were from the land of the morning calm. In the end, it was once again Faker lifting the trophy, ten years after lifting his first, expressing unheard-of career longevity in a major esport.
"I wholeheartedly congratulate your first World Championship in seven years, your fourth World Championship," Yoon said in a statement translated by esports journalist Ashley Kang.
Also mentioning the national team’s achievement, he stated that "the South Korean government will offer adamant support to the South Korean video game industry."
An unlikely feat
With the victory at the World Championship, Faker celebrates his fourth title after seven years of absence from the trophy lift.
During the LCK summer split, the "unkillable demon king" sustained an injury that put him out of competition for several weeks, T1 plummeted down the rankings, putting their qualification for Worlds in jeopardy, losing seven matches in a row.
With Faker back in action after week 9, T1 made it into playoffs and managed to reach the finals, where they only lost to Gen.G, illustrating the irreplaceable nature of the midlaner for T1.
During their run at Worlds, T1 faced off against every Chinese team in attendance, most notably JD Gaming, the winners of the MidSeason Invitational and favourites to win it all to complete the Golden Road, a term for a team that won all possible titles during a calendar year.
At 27 and with a career spanning over a decade, Faker has announced that he's still not done competing, looking forward to staying with T1 for another season.
