TOfu: "I had a conflict in the USA. I am currently in the difficult process of obtaining the USA visa" Interview
2023-06-18 14:20:00Eric "tOfu" Engel from Gaimin Gladiators reveals he has issues with obtaining the USA visa for The International 2023. The player's biography contains an incident in the country, the details of which he does not want to disclose. He commented on the situation to Cybersport.metaratings.ru.
Personally, I do not have any particular love for Seattle, perhaps unlike other players that have competed for a longer period. I had a conflict in the USA. I am currently in the complex process of obtaining a USA visa, but I do not want to go into details.
The last TI in Singapore was my first, and overall, it was the most memorable tournament. It has great importance to everyone and is the reason that we all continue to compete. This is just an access point for all community members, and the setup, time, money, and invested ambition stand to an entirely different level.
The international has not returned to the USA since 2017. The country is notorious for spoiling esports events by blocking visas. Just recently, two CS:GO events had to replace NAVI due to these kinds of troubles. TOfu became the first TI attendant to talk about possible paper issues publicly. We previously spoke to BetBoom's operational director about this potentially being a problem, and he said they hope for Valve's assistance.
The International 2023 will be held from October 14 to 29 at LAN in Seattle. Teams from all over the world will compete for a minimum prize pool of $1.6 million. Here's the list of all TI participants known to this moment:
