Arslan Siddique (Urdu: ارسلان صدیقی; born 20 August 1995), better known as Arslan Ash, is a Pakistani professional esports player. He is a five-time EVO champion, having emerged victorious in EVO Las Vegas 2019, 2023, 2024 as well as EVO Japan 2019 and 2023.[1] He also won the Tekken World Tour Finals 2023.[2]
Personal life
Arslan was born in Lahore, Pakistan, on 20 August 1995.[3] He is chartered accountant but did not pursue that career.[4] He was married in February 2023.[5]
Career
Arslan's first major tournament win was in 2010, when he won the Tekken 6 Grand Masters Championship.[3]
Arslan won the EVO Japan 2019 championship[6] and Evolution Championship Series 2019, making him the sole individual to achieve success in both tournaments at the time. Additionally, he also won the WePlay Ultimate Fighting League title for Tekken 7.[7] He was awarded the Best E-Player of 2019 by respondents of a Twitter poll organized by ESPN.[8]
He is the CEO 2021 champion. He won the Combo Breaker 2022 Tekken 7 tournament by defeating all ten of his opponents.[9]
He won the Tekken 7 competition at EVO Japan 2023 after beating South Korea’s Meo-IL.[11]
In 2023, he represented Pakistan in the Tekken 7 Nations Cup, where his team emerged as the champions, defeating South Korea in the final and claiming the trophy as well as $500,000 in prize money.[12]
Arslan won his fourth EVO title in Tekken 7 on 6 August 2023. He defeated Japanese player Akihiro "Ao" Abe in the grand final, 3-0. This is Ash's second time as the unified EVO champion, having won both EVO Las Vegas and EVO Japan in the same year. He is the only player to have won four EVO titles in Tekken 7.[13]
By winning both the EVO titles and Tekken World Tour Finals in the same season, he became the first ever "Triple Crown" champion in competitive Tekken history.[14]
Arslan became an EVO champion for the fifth time by winning the title in Tekken 8 on 21 July 2024.[15]
