One of the best teams in Korean VALORANT have been taken down by Indian team Global Esports, in the first round of the Asia-Pacific Last Chance Qualifier.
DAMWON Gaming was defeated in a 2-1 sweep which will send the Korean side to the lower bracket. They will face off against the loser of the FULL SENSE vs. REJECT matchup, which is currently ongoing at the time of publication.
— Global Esports (@GlobalEsportsIn) October 11, 2021
Global Esports, however, have secured victory for the next round of the upper bracket. This will allow the Indian team to face up against Paper Rex. The Singaporean side recently attended the VCT Stage 3 Masters event in Berlin, Germany, which concluded on Sept. 19.
Upset from the underdogs
The match between the two was heavily favored toward DAMWON, since they have been one of the best teams in the Korean region. With the loss, however, DAMWON is one game away from missing out on qualifying for VALORANT Champions, the biggest and most anticipated international event of the year.
The Last Chance Qualifier for the Asia-Pacific region has combined several minor regions to ensure smaller regions have a shot at attending Champions. Global Esports, however, qualified through the Conquerors Championship, which was a large South Asian tournament with a $33,000 USD prize pool. The event, which concluded on Aug. 28, earned the victor a slot at the Asia-Pacific LCQ.
Global Esports is led by former Cloud9 player-turned-coach Josh “shinobi” Abastado, who joined the VALORANT team in September. Shinobi was a part of the C9 roster for several months until he was released in December last year. This is the first organization he has joined since his removal from the North American team.
Only one team will secure qualification for Champions in the Asia-Pacific LCQ. Other prominent teams in Korea include Masters-attendees F4Q and NUTURN, who look to qualify, while other teams like BOOM Esports and FULL SENSE are looking to represent the South East Asian region on the international stage.
The Asia-Pacific LCQ concludes on Oct. 17 with the winner securing a place at Champions, which will begin on Dec. 2
