Official: s1mple to miss IEM Sydney 2023

Ukrainian organization NAVI confirmed via its official website the latest rumors about roster changes for the upcoming IEM Sydney 2023. The team's AWPer Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev will miss the tournament for unspecified reasons.

His place in the Black-and-Yellow's lineup in Sydney will be taken by coach Andrey “B1ad3” Gorodenskiy. This will be the coach's first appearance on the server as a player since June 2018.

In turn, Justinas "jL" Lekavicius will take over as a sniper. The Lithuanian esports athlete was previously the second AWPer in MAD Lions and Apeks.

The IEM Sydney 2023 group stage kicks off tomorrow, October 16. In the tournament opener, NAVI will face Apeks. The match will start at 03:30 CET.

 NAVI's lineup for IEM Sydney 2023 looks as follows:

 Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy
 Justinas "jL" Lekavicius
 Mihai "iM⁠" Ivan
 Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen
 Andrey "⁠B1ad3⁠" Gorodenskiy (coach/stand-in)

Origin: navi.gg