ESL India Premiership will replay the final match for its fall 2018 tournament after OpTic India was retroactively disqualified from the event.
OpTic India’s Premiership win was nullified after Nikhil “forsaken” Kumawat was banned for five years from ESL events, according to an Esports Integrity Coalition ruling. Forsaken has been accused of using aim-assist applications during two Counter-Strike: Global Offensive events this month, eXTREMELAND ZOWIE Asia and the ESL India Premiership. The player and his team were immediately disqualified from the eXTREMELAND event when the cheats were found; a later investigation into the Premiership tournament confirmed cheating at the ESL event, too.
Related: Nikhil “forsaken” Kumawat issued 5-year ban from ESIC-related CS:GO events
“We were in close contact with ESL Global to revisit our processes and to make sure that upgraded standards are in place for the upcoming replay of the finals,” an ESL India representative said. The event, which will include Slaughter Rage Army and 2ez Gaming, will be held on Oct. 28. The winner of the tournament will represent India at the ESL Pro League Asia finals.
OpTic Gaming disbanded its CS:GO team following the allegations, and forsaken has since admitted to cheating. Forsaken said he regrets installing Counter-Strike: “Nothing good has happened to me since the day I started playing the game,” he wrote in a statement. Forsaken’s ESIC ban will keep him out of any ESIC-member events for five years. The player has a short time to appeal the decision, although it doesn’t sound like he’s interested in returning to competitive play.
“It is always desperately sad when something like this happens in esports, but this case is particularly disappointing as we have previously shown compassion and consideration for Kumawat in our prior dealings with him,” ESIC commissioner Ian Smith said in a statement. “Additionally, he has caused great damage to Indian CS:GO and esports and devalued an excellent competition. There is no place in esports for cheats like Kumawat and, at a personal level, I hope we never see him back in CS:GO or any other game again.”
