FL1T officially replaces SANJI in Virtus.pro for PGL Major Stockholm 2021

Virtus.pro, on their official website, have announced a transfer of Evgeny "FL1T" Lebedev from forZe, thus confirming the previously published information of insider Alexey "OverDrive" Birukov. The newcomer joined Virtus.pro for PGL Major Stockholm 2021, replacing Sanjar "SANJI" Kuliev, who was excluded from the starting five.

A general manager of the Russian club, Sergey Glamazda, called this change of the roster temporary and expressed the hope that the reshuffle would help shake up the team before the start of the prestigious event. According to the manager, the final decision on the future of the roster will be made after the conclusion of the Valve’s tournament.

The Major is the biggest event in CS:GO, the one we’ve been waiting for two years. It’s incredibly important for the club and our fans. We want to achieve the best possible result, and in order to do so the team needs a new impulse. An opportunity to play with Evgeny arose and we decided to seize it. We hope that this will be the impulse we need to play at the peak of our abilities. 

No decisions regarding the future of our roster have been made for now. Everything will be clear after the Major when the dust is settled. I want to thank Sanjar. We’ve won tournaments, got into the top-3 of HLTV rankings, and qualified for the Major with him being in our ranks. Our current roster has already achieved a lot and this temporary change should help us reach even higher goals that we set for ourselves.

Before joining Virtus.pro, FL1T had represented forZe for two years. Together with the team he became the winner of DreamHack Open Winter 2019 and Spring Sweet Spring #1. Previously, the organization excluded him from the main roster and put him on a transfer list.

SANJI has played for Virtus.pro since the club bought the former AVANGAR squad in December 2019. During this time, the 22-year-old esports athlete helped the team become champions of such events as IEM New York 2020 CIS, Flashpoint 2, DreamHack Open December 2020 and cs_summit 7.

The updated VP roster will start PGL Major Stockholm 2021 on October 26 with a match against BIG at the Challengers Stage.

 Virtus.pro lineup for PGL Major Stockholm 2021:

 Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali
 Alexey "⁠Qikert⁠" Golubev
 Timur "⁠buster⁠" Tulepov
 Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis
 Evgeny "⁠FL1T⁠" Lebedev

 Dastan "⁠dastan⁠" Akbayev (coach)

Origin: virtus.pro