Signature to miss Asia Minor; 5POWER to field three stand

Signature have been ruled out of the Asia Minor Championship due to visa issues, while 5POWER will be forced to attend the event with stand-ins, HLTV.org has learned.

The Thai team had earned a spot at the Minor after placing top two in the Southeast Asia open qualifier but will be a no-show at the event after their application for a visa was rejected by the British embassy.

5POWER's Thai player, Kitikawin "⁠PTC⁠" Rattanasukol, and Mongolian duo, Gan-Erdene "⁠dobu⁠" Batbold and Bat-Enkh "⁠kabal⁠" Batbayar, were also refused visas, forcing the team to look into their options to be able to compete at the Minor.

kaze will step in for 5POWER in London

After discussing the matter with FACEIT, 5POWER were allowed to submit three stand-ins for the event: Benjamin "⁠moxie⁠" Kou, ZhiHai "⁠QKA⁠" Fu and Andrew "⁠kaze⁠" Khong.

The Singaporean is mostly known for his time with BOOT-d[S], with whom he attended DreamHack Masters Malmö 2017 and the WESG 2017 Finals. QKA and kaze have both represented 5POWER in the past and are currently free agents.

Signature's withdrawal leaves Group A with just three teams, with Renegades, the highest seed of the group, being awarded a default victory, which means they will go straight to the winners' match.

The groups for the Asia Minor now look as follows:

Group A
Renegades
VG.Flash
SCARZ Absolute Group B
TYLOO
Tainted Minds
Uniquestars
5POWER

5POWER will attend the event with the following line-up:

Peng "⁠xiaosaGe⁠" Song
Daryl "⁠insanity⁠" Chua
Benjamin "⁠moxie⁠" Kou
ZhiHai "⁠QKA⁠" Fu
Andrew "⁠kaze⁠" Khong

The Asia Minor will run from Monday to Friday at the Twickenham Stadium, the Home of England Rugby. The competing sides will square off for two spots in the FACEIT Major's New Challengers Stage in addition to a share of the tournament's $50,000 prize fund.

VG.Flash #53 YuLun 'Summer' CaiZhenghui 'z8z' LiuWeiJie 'zhokiNg' ZhongKunHua 'LOVEYY' BaiWingHei 'Freeman' Cheung 5POWER Peng 'xiaosaGe' SongBenjamin 'moxie' KouZhiHai 'QKA' FuAndrew 'kaze' KhongDaryl 'insanity' Chua Signature #121 Warittorn 'RoLEX' KalanukarnPhaiboon 'j9' SaengsermsubPhakhin 'PPOverdose' JaroenthanajindaManutsawat 'Reality' SangphadungNarakrit 'HSK' Phuthiwaranan Renegades #13 Justin 'jks' SavageAaron 'AZR' WardJoakim 'jkaem' MyrbostadKarlo 'USTILO' PivacNoah 'Nifty' Francis Benjamin 'moxie' Kou Age: 26 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 227 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.61 Gan-Erdene 'dobu' Batbold Age: 19 Team: 5POWER Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 348 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.69 Daryl 'insanity' Chua Age: 28 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.92 Maps played: 56 KPR: 0.65 DPR: 0.72 5POWER #91 Lei 'forget' LiGan-Erdene 'dobu' BatboldBat-Enkh 'kabal' BatbayarPeng 'xiaosaGe' SongKitikawin 'PTC' Rattanasukol Peng 'xiaosaGe' Song Age: 28 Team: 5POWER Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 368 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.69 Andrew 'kaze' Khong Age: 23 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 1.19 Maps played: 343 KPR: 0.79 DPR: 0.62 Bat-Enkh 'kabal' Batbayar Age: 23 Team: 5POWER Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 343 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.66 Kitikawin 'PTC' Rattanasukol Age: 19 Team: 5POWER Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 226 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.64 Uniquestars #93 Lidor 'LaNrefNi' AlmasiGuy 'NertZ' IluzBarak 'shp3x' SchneiderGuy 'anarkez' TrachtmanAnton 'hydra' Sviridon SCARZ Absolute #126 Koji 'Laz' UshidaTomoaki 'crow' MaruokaRyo 'barce' TakebayashiShibasaki 'poem' YumekiTakemori 'takej' Shogo Tainted Minds #68 Yaman 'yam' ErgenekonRyan 'zewsy' PalmerChris 'ofnu' HanleyCallum 'BURNRUOk' HendersonJoshua 'INS' Potter BOOT-d[S] #50 Nevin 'splashske' AwBenedict 'Benkai' TanAnthony 'ImpressioN' LimKumaresan 'Tommy' RamaniAlikhan 'w1nt3r' Kopzhanov ZhiHai 'QKA' Fu Age: 24 Team: 5POWER Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 264 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.68 TYLOO #16 Ke 'captainMo' LiuHui 'DD' WuHansel 'BnTeT' FerdinandHaoWen 'somebody' XuKevin 'xccurate' Susanto