Day 5 of Champions Istanbul plagued by sickness

Valorant community had been anticipating the Champions event in Istanbul to provide them with comprehensive entertainment unmatched to any event before it. Unfortunately, the competing players soon started contracting various ailments. Here’s some of the recent developments that have affected proceedings from flowing smoothly.

Food poisoning limits FPX’s rampage

FunPlus Phoenix, winners of Masters Copenhagen, got off to the mark in Istanbul with a victory against the reputed LATAM team KRÜ Esports. However, in the Post-Match interview we conducted with Andrey "Shao" Kiprsky, he reported experiencing weakness and being poisoned the previous day. We were unaware of how alarming that issue was until today when Riot released a statement regarding a change in the match schedule. Their match against XSET will now be held tomorrow at 3 PM local time.

d4v41 pictured in a hospital

Earlier today, Paper Rex’s head coach alecks tweeted out a picture of Ahmad Khalish "d4v41" Rusyaidee bin Nordin in a hospital bed. While the tweet has been deleted since then, multiple reports have surfaced regarding his release and subsequent recovery of his condition.

EDG Player test positive for COVID-19

For the 2nd matchup of the day, Team Liquid were pitted against EDward Gaming in the first elimination matchup of the event. To the dismay of EDG fans, one of the players tested positive for COVID and was asked to compete from an isolation facility. They aren’t the only team to experience COVID at this event, as four members of 100 Thieves and the Head Coach of OpTic Gaming also contracted the illness.

Apart from these players, well-known caster Lauren "Pansy" Scott also hinted towards a stomach bug in a recent tweet.