The stranded Dota 2 players in Romania are now in contact with the Philippine Embassy to arrange their flights back to the Philippines.
The DOTA2 tournament recently concluded in Romania, but the recent IATF announcement places the country on the Red List, leaving Filipino players and staff stranded.
According to Fnatic’s Team Director Eric Khor, six Filipinos are stranded in Bucharest, Romania where The International 10 (TI10) was held from October 7 to 17, 2021.
However, the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on October 14 released the updated Red, Green, and Yellow List of countries/jurisdictions/territories effective starting October 16, 2021.
Most of the Filipinos attending the video game tournament had return flights scheduled on October 18 and 19.
One Esports lists down all the Filipino players and staff who are effectively stuck in Romania:
●Karl Jayme, player for T1
●Djardel “DJ” Mampusti, captain and player for Fnatic
●Marc “Raven” Fausto, player for Fnatic
●Pao Bago, performance coach for Fnatic
●Abed Yusop, player for Evil Geniuses
Khor’s call to action was retweeted over 1,000 times mostly by Filipinos tagging the Department of Foreign Affairs, ABS-CBN, and former senator Bam Aquino who is notable for supporting esports players.
As of writing, the players are in touch with the Philippine Embassy while Carlo “Kuku” Palad, captain and player for T1 successfully returned to Manila the morning of October 20.
Pao Bago has also updated concerned fans that they have secured flights back to the Philippines.
Covid-19 cases in Romania have increased in the last few weeks pushing TI10 organizers to opt for a no-audience event.
Several players and the Chinese teams, Team Aster and Invictus Gaming were diagnosed with positive Covid-19 cases in one of the required daily testing but was quickly isolated from the other players.
Tags: #Dota2, #TI10, #stranded