ATOX get disqualified from ECL, barred from other ESL events after ESIC's provisional suspension

ESL announced this Thursday, March 13th that ATOX have been disqualified from ESL Challenger Season 49 Asia-Pacific following a provisional suspension issued by the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC). ATOX were placed in fourth in ECL S49 APAC and all of their past and future matches will be deleted as a result of their disqualification.

And not only that, but ESL also vetted the Mongolian squad from attending their future events "until further notice".

ESL isn't the only tournament organizer barring ATOX from their events. BLAST removed the Mongolians from the upcoming Open Lisbon event and PGL removed them from the Bucharest Asia Qualifier over the same reason.

Even though the tournament organizers have cited a provisional suspension from ESIC, the esports watchdog is yet to announce that it is investigating ATOX. Thus, it's unclear what ATOX could have done to make ESIC issue this suspension

The Chinese commentator Yunqing "⁠Searph⁠" Hu claimed in February that "a team ranked within the top 30 in VRS [Valve Regional Standings] is under investigation by ESIC for suspected match-fixing in EPL 2024".

Searph could be talking about ATOX as the Mongolians peaked as 23rd in the global VRS in February and attended ESL Pro League Season 20 in September 2024, but until ESIC announces a formal investigation, it's all speculation.