M8 bipo on handling negative comments: "Stay focused on yourself, on your team, keep working and stay locked in"

Taranvir "bipo" Singh spoke with THESPIKE after their VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - EMEA Stage 2 win against Natus Vincere to discuss the series, his experience playing in front an immense crowd at EWC - Esports World Cup 2026, his competitive journey , how he handles negative comments, and much more.

Taking down NAVI

THESPIKE: How did you feel during the series?

bipo: "I think it went well. It felt good, while playing I felt like we were in control. Of course, we had some rounds where we were not really connected and were not playing as well as a team,overall we stepped up a lot from last week and had a really good showing as a team."

THESPIKE: In the current meta, we see that attack is much better than defense at the moment. As far as I remember, you were a very good team when double duelist was a thing. How you are adapting to this new meta, and do you think it suits you as a team?

bipo: "I think it does suit us. I feel like double duelist is still very viable, it is very meta, but I also feel like you can make other things work, playing single duelist, double controller, double sentinel, whatever. But I feel like double duelist is kind of viable on every map, and that fits us really well. That is also what makes us good right now."

VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - EMEA Stage 2

Gentle Mates

2

X

0

Natus Vincere

Group Alpha, Best of 3 - July 23, 2026 - 5:20PM

13

Sunset

10

13

Haven

7

Gentle Mates

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

marteen

1.48

282

43/28/14

+15

1.54

86.3%

183.6

26%

89%

8

1

starxo

1.22

238

39/23/8

+16

1.70

74.8%

154.8

31%

50%

5

5

Minny

1.08

215

34/28/7

+6

1.21

74.8%

134.0

29%

57%

8

6

Proxh

1.06

189

25/29/28

-4

0.86

82.0%

126.7

25%

43%

3

4

bipo

0.85

156

27/24/4

+3

1.13

72.6%

97.8

30%

100%

3

0

Natus Vincere

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

hiro

1.06

223

35/29/7

+6

1.21

69.1%

146.9

41%

63%

5

3

Ruxic

0.94

221

32/36/7

-4

0.89

63.8%

137.4

21%

63%

5

3

chloric

0.81

183

27/35/7

-8

0.77

57.9%

138.8

29%

50%

2

2

CyvOph

0.66

148

18/32/16

-14

0.56

57.9%

101.1

30%

27%

3

8

ExiT

0.57

137

20/36/8

-16

0.56

51.1%

92.2

30%

8%

1

12

EWC and playing in front of big crowds

Whenever you are playing with a crowd, even when it was Berlin and we had a crowd for Stage 1, it just feels alive.

THESPIKE: You had the chance to play in front of the Paris crowd at the Esports World Cup. It was an insane environment to play in. Now you have gone from playing at EWC to playing in the Berlin stage with no fans, because there are no fans in the venue at the moment. How does fan presence affect you personally?

bipo: "I think the vibe of the match is completely different. Whenever you are playing with a crowd, even when it was Berlin and we had a crowd for Stage 1, it just feels alive. Maybe it is not as big as Paris EWC or Masters, but it feels like you are playing for some people and they are actually there cheering for you.

Playing like this with no crowd is a little bit depressing. Nothing will ever compare to what we had in Paris. But overall, it would be nice to have just a little bit of crowd even in Berlin. I guess we have to make playoffs for that."

THESPIKE: Would you like to see roadtrips hosted by the teams? In League, we have Karmine Corp hosting roadtrips, we have Movistar KOI hosting roadtrips. Do you think it would also be a viable option in VALORANT?

bipo: "I think it would work very well, actually. I feel like getting out of Berlin would be amazing for VALORANT, because if you do roadtrips to Paris, to Barcelona, like we are going to do for playoffs, there is for sure going to be a lot of people watching. You can even go to London. It would be so cool to have matches, whatever, even if it is only for playoffs, or just group stage, any kind of match that is not held always in Berlin.

I feel like that would bring so many fans into the live audience. It would be a really good experience for everyone and even for Riot Games. It would just be very cool. We should have it."

Bipo’s competive journey

THESPIKE: You come from a country that does not really have an esports culture. The Italian scene is most non-existent in VALORANT. You went from having no one watching your matches to being in front of thousands of people cheering and screaming your name. How was that transition, going from small Italy to big Europe when you started playing with bigger teams?

bipo: "It is basically the same thing, just on a bigger scale. Even when I played in the Italian League, there were people watching us and supporting us. Maybe there were not many people, but we had our small community. Shoutout to everyone from the small Italian community. There were still some people at least.

Of course, it is not big, it is not much, but we had something. Now I do not know how VALORANT Italy is doing. But yeah, It feels amazing to have the same support on a much bigger scale. Gentle Mates have so many fans, everyone is supporting us, and it is just amazing, honestly."

THESPIKE: There is always a lot of people watching you, and you are a public figure now, so you are very exposed to the fans and to the public. That can be both a good and a bad thing. How do you manage to stay focused and not get down when things get rough and public opinion is not good anymore?

bipo: "First of all, there will always be a few people who will never be happy with your performance, with your games, whatever, even when you win. But for me, there is an overwhelming amount of support, and then there are a couple of people who are maybe not so nice or kind on the internet. Whenever you get those kinds of messages, you just need to understand that you have to stay in your own bubble. It does not even matter.

You need to stay focused on what you are doing and not listen to them, because they are just trying to take you down or ruin your day, ruin your mood, whatever. To be honest, you just need to think that it does not matter at all. You need to stay focused on yourself, on your team, keep working, and stay locked in. Whatever you hear from the outside, do not let it get into your bubble. That is it."

Esports Nations Cup, role swap, and opinions on Summit

THESPIKE: You did not attend the ENC - Esports Nations Cup 2026 - Europe West Qualifier with Italy. Is there a particular reason you decided not to attend the event, or was it just that you wanted to focus more on your Tier 1 career at the moment?

bipo: "I mean, it was kind of that too, that I wanted to focus on myself. I feel like I would not have had time to practice if I had to play. But mainly it was because I would have been playing with other Italian players, but I am not really close with anyone, you know. They are not really my good friends or anything. I also feel like I have attended some other events with Team Italy in the past. I always kind of took the spot before, when I was a duelist, you know, and I wanted to leave the spot for someone else.

Also, I feel like I would not have had as much fun because I am not playing with friends. I do not really like these kinds of events too much because you do not practice enough, but you are still playing seriously, and your team performance will not be that great because you do not practice much. For me, it is just not that fun, you know. But maybe in the future I might attend something like this."

THESPIKE: Speaking about your role swap, we saw you on Neon at the start of the year, and then you went a completely different way, moving to sentinels. Do you feel like this role suits you more as a player, or was it a strategic choice?

bipo: "It was more of a strategic choice, I would say. It was not mainly my idea. It was brought to me, I considered it, and then we realized it was good for the team, so that is where we went. I feel like it suits me. I feel like anything can suit me, you know, if you have enough experience, playtime, and you learn the role.

Anyone can learn anything. If you want to be a top player, you need to be able to play the game, and I am playing the game. If it is a different role and it helps us win, then it is the correct choice for us."

THESPIKE: Are you enjoying it? Do you like playing Sentinel?

bipo: "Honestly, I kind of like playing Cypher. It is fun. You are on your own space, sometimes your team is on A while you are on B and they either win or lose the round, and you are just there chilling, you know, like you are on the beach. Sometimes it is nice, sometimes you do not even know what is going on, but overall you can focus more on yourself, it is kind of nice."

THESPIKE: What is your opinion on Summit? Do you like it or dislike it?

bipo: "Mixed feelings. Whenever I find it in ranked, I am not so happy, but I am also not so sad. I feel like it is kind of in the middle. It is not one of the best maps in the game, but it is also not one of the worst.

We still need to see what the meta is on that map and how to play it better, because it has not been out for very long and not many teams have played it a lot. For me personally, I do not like it that much, but I do not hate it. It is okay."

The journey is still long for bipo and Gentle Mates, as they are sitting on seven Championship Points. BBL Esports are the team closest to them with eight. M8 will be back on July 29 to play against Team Vitality for the top standings of Group Alpha.

For all things VCT-related, make sure to stay tuned to THESPIKE.GG as we continue to update you with the freshest game and esports news.

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