LaNm Criticizes PGL for Lack of COVID Precautions; Team Aster Apologizes Later

Update September 30: Team Aster Apologizes for LaNm's comments

Today, Team Aster released a public apology regarding to LaNm's statements earlier with detailed clarifications.

Team Aster mentioned that it was a collective decision from all Chinese teams to be having their boot camps in Romania after discussing the details with PGL to ensure the quality of practices. In result, the teams have signed contracts with PGL stating that the organizations will be bearing the costs while PGL assist in providing accommodations, internet and practice equipment.

LaNm was not involved in the contract signing session, hence the miscommunication within the team has caused this entire misunderstanding.

Team Aster apologized for the negative effects that this has brought to PGL. The organization has already taken disciplinary actions on relevant personnel.

Original Article Follows:

After Team Aster broke out the news where 6 members of the team are tested positive for COVID-19, LaNm expressed his disappointment at The International 10 tournament organizer, PGL, on the protective measurements for players and requirement for the team to arrive at the destination earlier.

In LaNm's long Weibo posts, he expressed his confusion on the TI protocols. There was no prior-testing, unlike the Majors where they had to do a COVID test before checking in, and were only allowed to leave the room after results show negative. He said that everyone is free to do anything, but shouldn't TI be a lot more cautious?

Moreover, there is no mineral water provided by PGL, claims LaNm. This is the first time teams did not get mineral water in his experience after playing so many tournaments in his career. Not to mention, this is during the pandemic. Hence, it is inevitable for their staff to make grocery run every two days. To make it worse, the COVID situation is becoming more severe in Romania. People are still not wearing masks on the street, even the two bars in hotel lobby are always full of customers.

What struck him more was the fact that the staff that were doing COVID tests for them were only wearing simple masks, with no protection for the eyes and other body part, even though they knew that the team leader has tested positive.

Even more, he revealed that there was no individual room provided by PGL after the team leader was tested positive for self-quarantine. He said they only found out about this because the team leader went for a COVID test himself after feeling unwell, what if they had treated this as a normal flu? What would happen to the other teams that came here early? "The actions taken by the tournament organizer is confusing me, this is The International, shouldn't it be a lot more cautious? Oh, this is TI", said LaNm.

LaNm did not stop after this, he posted more of his feelings following this long complaint. One of the founder of ImbaTV, Hai Tao, replied to LaNm's post saying that "recent TIs were not the same to the initial ones, when TIs were in Seattle, it was completely handled by Valve themselves, they did not care about the cost. However, recent TIs were outsourced."

Nope, the man is not stopping. He further commented on the reason of criticizing PGL. He said that the team did not want to arrive earlier, but PGL insisted all the teams should gather together.

In a reddit thread, Team Secret's CEO, John Yao, shared the opposite sentiment. He complimented PGL and Valve's effort on helping out with the teams' requests while offering help for boot-camping in Romania as well. Also, he stated that the responsibility is 100% on the organizations for anything that happens before the TI bubble starts, which is on October 3rd.

Furthermore, Yao responded to the post where LaNm criticized PGL. He once again mentioned that PGL was doing a great job by providing assistance to the teams, such as setting up the boot-camps, providing PCs, helping with hotel accommodations and such.

All members of IG that have taken COVID tests are reportedly negative. There is no frontline staff that feel abnormal. "We will be more cautious with protective measurements while waiting for the tournament organizer's instructions. It is a tough road for the CN army, wish everything goes smoothly, cheers."

All members are tested negative for COVID-19 from Elephant. "Carry on, we will be more cautious with sanitization and prevention, while waiting for official protocols, please do not worry."

Both the team leader and videographer of the team are tested negative. "We will be more cautious from now onwards", said Vici Gaming's statement.

The Chinese Dota 2 teams reportedly contacted PGL to aid them in securing accommodation in Romania. PGL helped some teams set up bootcamps and provide PCs. It seems there was miscommunication between the Chinese teams and PGL. While the Chinese teams believed PGL would provide a full-service (including food, water and safety precautions), PGL was only providing a set of services.

LaNm has since deleted his Weibo posts and has said the team has secured medications. The entire squad will be in self-quarantine henceforth.

The battle with COVID-19 is only getting more serious by day with The International arriving soon. We wish a speedy recovery to Team Aster's members and best of health to all of the participants in TI10.

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