paiN to compete at IEM Melbourne 2025 without IGL

In-game leader of the Brazilian team paiN Rodrigo "biguzera" Bittencourt will miss the upcoming IEM Melbourne 2025 tournament in Australia due to health issues. The organization announced this via their X social media account.

paiN's official statement claims that biguzera suffers from acute serous otitis media and cannot fly on airplanes due to the risk of irreversible hearing damage. Instead of Bittencourt, the team's coach Henrique "rikz" Waku will play at the upcoming event.

Note that last month paiN benched Kaue "⁠kauez⁠" Kaschuk, who represented the club since August of 2023. His place in the roster (so far unofficially) was filled by 17-year-old Iago "⁠deemO" Henrique from paiN's youth squad.

IEM Melbourne 2025 will be held from April 21 to 27 in Melbourne, Australia. The total prize pool of the event will amount to $300,000, which will be divided among 16 teams. In the first round of the group, paiN will face FaZe.

 paiN are now:

 Lucas "nqz" Soares
 João "⁠snow⁠" Vinicius
 David "⁠dav1deuS⁠" Tapia Maldonado
 Iago "⁠deemO" Henrique
 Henrique "rikz" Wakku (coach/stand-in)

Origin: x.com