Team Russia withdraw from IESF World Championship

Team Russia has decided to withdraw from the ongoing IeSF World Championship 2019 tournament due to the event’s poor level of organization. The contingent includes the Russian Dota 2 team and Tekken 7 player, Mikhail "Morton" Kvater.

HellRaisers player Alexander “Nix” Levin is a member of the national team and was the first to speak out on the condition of things in Seoul. There was a lack of hospitality, inadequate equipment, and a huge communication barrier.

The Computer Sports Federation president, Dmitry Smith had this to say regarding the situation at IeSF World Championship 2019:

“We are incredibly sad that in these competitions our team faced such a low level of organization on the part of the IESF. For example, a number of conditions that are considered basic for e-sports competitions were not met - the venue changed several times, and computers did not meet the requirements.”

“The team will return to Russia on December 15, as planned. We believe that the participants of the Russian team showed a good result, and we regret that the organizers of the tournament in South Korea, the e-sports mecca, have shown their complete failure. We hope that other national federations will also support this initiative, here we are counting on gaming solidarity. Our athletes set the right vector - openly announced the existing problems, we are sure that this is the only way to influence the situation," he added.

Team Russia managed to defeat Namibia on the first day of the event and was to face Serbia in round 2. The 11th IeSF World Championship is taking place at VSG Arena, Seoul, Korea. Twenty-one teams were initially competing to claim the $25,000 prize pool, but it is unknown if any other teams will follow Russia’s example.