YEKINDAR: it was hard for me to find peace of mind in a Russian organization
YEKINDAR makes a return to the top 20 list after a world-class performance for Team Liquid
At the end of Katowice, Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. A movement that impacted many industries around the world, and of course also Counter-Strike. Russian teams started to get kicked out of tournaments and top players found it hard to keep their focus doing games. As a player from Latvia who plays for a Russian organization, YEKINDAR found it hard to maintain focus doing practice as well as when playing official matches.
"Obviously when the war in Ukraine started, it was hard for me to find peace of mind in a Russian organization. During Katowice, I tried to understand myself and my principles and after that event when we lost to G2, I had thoughts of leaving the team " - YEKINDAR said to HLTV.
When playing under tough circumstances as YEKINDAR did in Virtus pro. He felt like the motivation when practicing was affected by the surroundings. During the first big tournament of 2022 at IEM Katowice, The Russian team Virtus pro ended in 5-6th place. PGL Major Antwerp was the next tournament for YEKINDAR and Virtus pro, but everyone seemed to know what was going on behind the scene of the squad.
"It was kind of a long goodbye and during EPL and the Major in Antwerp everything was already decided and everybody knew."
YEKINDAR joined Liquid back in July 2022. During his first three months on the team, YEKINDAR impressed everyone and help the team to become better at any aspect of the game. In late October Liquid signed YEKINDAR on a permanent deal.
