After two days of dramatic competition, the Phygital Dancing event at Phygital Contenders Astana 2026 finished with Andres Guardo emerging victorious and securing a place at Games of the Future 2026 next month.
Andres, 19, narrowly defeated Sugdiyona Abdukhalikova (Sagdi) 2-1 in the final. However, Sagdi has also earned a place at GOTF 2026, alongside semi-finalists Susan Huertas from Guatemala and Peru’s Sergio Mayta – all of whom had won their First Round matches earlier in the day.
The day began with the quarterfinals which produced few surprises. Huertas, Mayta, Guardo and Sagdi had been the biggest points scorers in the Qualifying Round and were strongly tipped to go through.
The semifinals, however, delivered some of the tournament’s most tense and dramatic moments.
In the first, Sagdi took on Susan Huertas (the top performer in yesterday’s Qualifying Round) but almost blew her chances when she received a penalty of -1,000 points for failing to complete a required step in Round 2. That swung the tie in Susan’s favour, but Sagdi still battled back to win the match-up 2-1 and progress to the final.
The second semi-final was more straightforward with Andres producing a commanding display to defeat Sergio Mayta 2-1 and secure his chance to take on Sagdi.
In the third-place playoff, Susan defeated Sergio 2-0, before Andres edged a closely contested final against Sagdi 2-1 to be crowned Phygital Contenders Astana 2026 champion.
Speaking after his victory, Andres said: “It means a lot to me because it is a personal achievement that reflects everything I have done throughout my journey in dance. Phygital Contenders Astana 2026 has been a great experience but I’m already thinking about daily training, practising all the choreography and learning every detail so I can be as prepared as possible for the Games of the Future 2026.”
The final results mean the following athletes have now officially qualified for GOTF 2026:
- Andres Guardo (BUENOS TIEMPOS S.A.S.)
- Sagdi (Federation of Phygital sports of Uzbekistan)
- Susan Huertas (Asociación de Deportes Electrónicos de Guatemala)
- Sergio Mayta (ESPORTS ENTERTAINMENT E.I.R.L)
They will join three athletes who have already secured direct qualification through the 2025/26 WPC rankings season.
- Konstantin Fominykh (ADCS)
- Dance Kingz1 (Phygital South Africa),
- Vitaldancer (Asociación de Deportes Electrónicos y Videojuegos de Argentina)
- Dion Visser (Alliance of electronic sports of Montenegro).
- Donchess (Belarusian Federation of Phygital Sport)
Two additional qualification places will be awarded through the final Phygital Contenders Astana 2026 rankings, to be announced in the coming weeks.
Dan Merkley, Chairperson and Managing Director of the World Phygital Community, said: “Phygital Dancing continues to grow as one of the most compelling disciplines at GOTF 2026 and the level of competition we witnessed here at Phygital Contenders Astana 2026 was a testament to that. Congratulations to all those who have secured their place at the Games of the Future 2026 – they have earned it, and we look forward to seeing what they bring to the global stage this August.”
The Phygital Dancing competition at the Games of the Future 2026 will take place from 5 to 6 August at Barys Arena, within the wider event, that runs from 29 July–9 August in Astana. Athletes will compete for a prize pool of USD $75,000, with the discipline continuing to attract a passionate global audience. Adding to the wider festival atmosphere, Comic Con Astana will also be hosted at Barys Arena from 5 to 9 August, bringing together audiences across gaming, pop culture and digital entertainment.
Full results and details of all the athlete who took part in the tournament are available here.
The remaining two qualification places will be confirmed via the WPC website in the coming weeks – stay tuned for the full line-up.
