Cover-Credits:
Cloud9 failed to make it past the Legends Stage of the PGL Antwerp Major 2022, and to make things worse, its team captain Abay "HObbit" Khasenov seems to have landed in a spot of bother. The player has been accused of match-fixing seven years ago.
His former teammate Rustam "5TRYK#R" Alimkulov who is now a CS:GO coach alleged that multiple well known CS:GO players from Kazakhstan were reportedly involved in several instances of match-fixing in 2015.
In a personal statement, HObbit has denied his involvement in any such match-fixing while also stating that he is ready to assist the ESIC (Esports Integrity Commission) in its investigation on the matter to clear his name.
CS:GO match-fixing report: HObbit denies involvement after being implicated by former teammate
5TRYK#R, the 31-year-old from Kazakhstan mostly known for his time coaching Russian esports organization forZe from 2017 to 2019, has been making several allegations against his former CS:GO team, PARTY stating that it was involved in multiple instances of match-fixing during the closed qualifier of StarLadder Regional Minor Championship that had taken place in December 2015.
CS:GO players that were a part of this roster were,
Magzhan "fANTASTIKA" Temirbolat
Rustam "5TRYK#R" Alimkulov
Abay "HObbit" Khasenov
Bektiyar "fitch" Bahytov
Adlet "keeN" Nyrseytov
According to 5TRYK#R, the team was involved in 'spot-fixing' during the course of this tournament, which is basically the act of fixing the outcome of a specific aspect of a match without disturbing the final result of the match.
PARTY was a team of players without the backing of an organization. In the absence of a stable income all the players allegedly agreed to indulge in spot-fixing at the CIS Minor Championship.
5TRYK#R alleged that the plan was to lose all T-sided pistol rounds in each game of the group stage, with all of them placing bets on this particular outcome. The team ended up winning two out of its three group stage matches, and it was supposed to net each player around $5,000 USD, but some bets were apparently cancelled by the bookmaker itself.
The Kazakh coach has released several videos on his Twitter and YouTube channels to support his claims, which he had kept for about six years with him before finally deciding to speak up about it after being diagnosed with a serious illness.
"The situation due to illness is different, so I want to put my morale in order by telling the whole truth about the former PARTY team and live with peace of mind," says 5TRYK#R.
The evidence includes,
Commentary over the alleged pistol rounds explaining certain things on his YouTube channel.
Multiple screenshots from the betting website olimp.kz, which is now olimpbet.kz, the Kazakh subsidiary of the Russian sportsbook Olimpbet.
Screenshots from conversation with HObbit.
TeamSpeak recording from a talk with the entire PARTY lineup.
Further, a detailed account about the matter has been compiled by Richard Lewis that can be found on Dexerto. He also reported that all the evidence and material has been forwarded to the ESIC which has already initiated its preliminary investigation process.
In a personal statement, HObbit has denied all the allegations and has stated that he is fully prepared to assist the ESIC in this investigation, claiming that everything he has achieved so far is a result of his "hard work and perseverance".
