In a surprising turn of event, Kurtis “Aui 2000” Ling, head coach of the Dota 2 team Tundra Esports, has came out from the bench to play with his team today. The Canadian coach filled the gap which have been left by Martin “Saksa” Sazdov, who is departing from Bali Major owing to health issues since last Saturday.
According to the official report, Saksa and several members of the Tundra management team have been suffering from stomach pains since Saturday and were declared unfit to continue the competition. Tundra later announced that Saksa had been relieved of his duties from the team after the match against Execration and would be resting until an indefinite period. From here onward, Aui will be playing as their offlaner in this competition.
Saksa wasn’t the only player to have dropped out of the competition due to a stomach ache. At the same time, team Evil Geniuses announced that their captain, Farith “Matthew” Puente, had also left earlier due to the same problem. It didn’t really matter, though, because they have been eliminated earlier after being the only side in Group B to fail to win a game.
This adjustment was expected to have an effect on the Tundra team’s performance, particularly in the last day’s group stage. Aui, however, is not to be overlooked as just a simple stand-in. Long before becoming the Tundra team’s coach, Aui was a staple player in several big teams in the West Europe region and in the North America, went on winning The International 2015 as EG’s roamer with his signature, Techies. He then won it again as a coach with the Tundra team in Singapore last year.
Aui and Tundra Esports have been doing well at the moment, with the team tied against Team Liquid and rejuvenated Team Aster today. They have secured the upper bracket for the Bali Major and will continue through the playoffs later on July 5, 2023.
