Fans question Riot's mismanagement after the disqualification of Oceanic teams from the NA Last Chance Qualifier

Riot's responsibility is under question (Image via Sportskeeda)
Riot's responsibility is under question (Image via Sportskeeda)

Riot is under some serious questions after today's announcement regarding the disqualification of Oceanian teams from the upcoming Valorant Champions Tour NA Last Chance Qualifier due to VISA issues.

Valorant fans feel that the months of hard work and dreams of Oceanian teams are shattered into pieces due to the ignorance of Riot. Though Riot has promised to bring more opportunities to the Oceanian teams, everyone is now questioning Riot's involvement in the matter.


According to some, Oceanic teams faced the consequence of Riot's lack of planning

A few weeks ago, Riot announced that the North America Last Chance Qualifier will be played in LAN with ten participating teams. Between the ten qualified teams, eight teams will be coming as per the standings on the NA Circuit Points leaderboard, and the remaining two teams will be from the Valorant Oceania Tour.

Order and Chiefs Esports Club are the two Oceanian teams qualified for the North America Last Chance Qualifier. However, because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Riot has failed to arrange VISA for the Oceanian teams for travelling to Los Angeles to participate in the LAN event. In the current situation, Riot announced that the Oceanian teams would not be present in the tournament.

Since the announcement, many fans have questioned Riot's responsibility to confirm the VISA in time. After playing a qualifier event (Valorant Oceania Tour) for almost nine months to get a chance to participate in the North America Last Chance Qualifier, which is the only qualifying event for Oceanian teams to the Valorant Champions 2021. It is pretty frustrating for the Oceanian fans. According to some information coming from Riot's public discord server, the organizers didn't look at booking flights until last week. They didn't apply for travel exemptions until a few days ago and are now aware of border policy.

Fans were totally disappointed with the issue and raised their voices against the matter. This is not the first time any team has been disqualified for the VISA issues. Previously, SEA champions Bren Esports (now known as Team Secret) failed to travel to Berlin for the recently concluded Valorant Champions Tour Masters Berlin due to the same issue. However, they will compete in the Valorant Champions 2021 as the second seed from SEA.

But for Oceanian teams, it was their only chance to qualify for the Valorant Champions 2021. They now have to wait another year to have an opportunity to compete on the big stage.

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Edited by Yasho Amonkar
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