Valorant pro player ‘Binks’ and his team ‘Paratroops’ have been banned from ESPL tournaments for six months, effective immediately. The Indian Valorant community found out about former Paratroops player Xhade cheating in ranked yesterday, which led to him being disqualified from the recently concluded TEC Invitational. Soon after Xhade’s removal from the roster, Binks admitted to account sharing to let someone else play on his behalf at the ESPL PowerUp India Qualifiers. Team Paratroops and Binks broke the tournament rules and will not be allowed in ESPL events in the near future.
Team ParaTroops and Their Recent Controversies
Image via: ESPLTeam ParaTroops have been suffering from controversy since last weekend when Xhade was disqualified from TEC Invitational. Earlier today, ESPL revealed that they are upset over the turn of events because of the success of the recent match between Team Mahi and ParaTroops. Over 15,000 people watched it across all platforms and channels.
ESPL revealed that they want to create a “sustainable global network and foundation for growing esports talents around the world,” and such unsportsmanlike behavior undermines their credibility. Team ParaTroops has been banned for Colluding, and Binks has been banned for Account Sharing until the end of July. Placement decisions for the 3rd qualifier of the ESPL PowerUp event have also been affected, with all teams eliminated by Team ParaTroops being given a chance to compete against each other for the qualifier spot and take ParaTroops’ place. This includes the following teams:
- MAGeS
- Langde Ghode
- Offbit Gaming
- ZeroIQ
Fans on social media are upset over the decision and claim that Binks let someone else play on his account because he was sick. However, the ESPL revealed that “any dishonest and unsportsmanlike behavior that undermines the credibility of the ranking systems put in place will not be tolerated as they will only thwart the growth of the competitive ecosystem that ESPL hopes to build.” With a player being permanently banned from Valorant and the entire team being disqualified from ESPL tournaments, ParaTroops will be looking to recuperate from their setbacks before competing again.
ESPL PowerUp Overview
ESPL PowerUp is an ongoing event, and the qualifiers are currently ongoing till February 7th. Winners from all the qualifiers will be going head-to-head and compete for the grand prize of INR 7,50,000, with the winners set to receive INR 4,00,000 and INR 2,00,000 reserved for 2nd place.
RELATED: Indian Valorant Pro Admits to Cheating
Update: The Paratroops organization has announced that the team is releasing their current lineup and that the players were disbanding.
