ESL ban Lynn Vision from next event invite after visa fiasco

Lynn Vision has been handed a one-event suspension from ESL tier-one tournaments.

The Chinese team was unable to check in for their flights after they realized that several of their players' visas had expired.

In ESL's statement, they claimed Lynn Vision had confirmed that their visas were in place throughout the invitation process.

Lynn Vision now faces a ban at the next tier-one ESL event that they qualify for, which will be IEM Krakow at the soonest.

Here is an excerpt from ESL's rulebook regarding this situation:

2.14.1 Withdrawing from the event
Participants are considered to have withdrawn from the event if they leave during the ongoing stage, between the two stages of the event, including its qualifying stage (e.g., qualifier and main event), or if they leave after accepting the invitation. In such cases, the participants will forfeit all prize money accumulated for the event and will be penalised with a ban from the next event of the same tier (e.g. if a team withdraws from a Tier 1 event, they will be banned from the next Tier 1 event they would have been invited to). The team that withdraws will also be fined to cover the cost of their replacement (including, but not limited to, flight expenses for the replacement team and any additional costs incurred). If ESL is unable to find a replacement, the original matches assigned to the team will be forfeited.

• Additionally, in exceptional cases, tournament administration will waive penalties in the event of a medical emergency or visa complications. To qualify for an exemption:

• For medical emergencies, the team must provide a letter from a licensed doctor explicitly stating that the participant is unable to travel to the event.

For visa complications, the team must provide official documentation confirming that the visa was denied for reasons outside the participant’s control (e.g., not due to an incorrectly submitted or incomplete application).

When asked in an interview with HLTV if they expected the ban from ESL Qihao "⁠C4LLM3SU3⁠" Su said, "I mean, we deserve any punishment from them, because it's our fault.'

Virtus.pro was turned away at the border, which was an exception to ESL's rules, as it was outside their control.