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NEWS
Strelok unable to attend NASL, had visa issues

By Duncan 'Thorin' Shields
Jul 5, 2011 01:24


ImageUkrainian Terran Strelok is unable to attend the NASL finals due to visa issues. Korean Terran aLive will replace him.

imba.FXOpen player UA Eugin 'Strelok' Oparyshev will be unable to take his place at the North American Star League (NASL) Season 1 finals due to being unable to obtain a visa until the day of the event's start. He will be replaced by KR Lee-Seok 'aLive' Han.

Strelok had been draw to face DE Jonathan 'DarKFoRcE' Belke in the first round but the Ukrainian Terran underestimated the length of time it would take to receive his visa to the USA, ending up one day late.

UA Strelok explained in a thread on TeamLiquid:

"First of all. I am guilty. I am guilty that i didn't read the information about the speciality of american visa before tournament. I have received a thon of european and asian visas and was sure i am aware on how it is done. I knew US visa is hard one but i couldn't know it's THAT hard.

The next day after having qualified to NASL, i appealed for visa. It was more then 1 month before NASL I couldn't appeal earlier because to make visa you have to book flights and hotel with paying money. And it's not little sum i have to say. But still to absolutely any other country i could've made 5 visas in a row during this time, To US, even though we together with NASL worked very hard to get it in time, i missed it less then in 1 day. I will get visa in 8-th july 2:00 A.M. California time. NASL starts 8-th july in the afternoon but... sadly my trip to US will take 30 hours so it is absolutely impossible that i get there in time.

But for now i have to get US visa for 5 years, so i won't have any problems regarding future NASL/MLG events, which i am going to prove to visiting MLG in July or next one. So since i also have multi European-visa, i hope my visa problems will end at least for my progaming career years =)."


NASL explained their side of things:

"It is with heavy hearts that we announce today that unfortunately, Strelok was unable to receive a VISA in time to attend the NASL Grand Finals. We have been trying valiantly, along with Strelok for several weeks to get him a VISA faster so he could attend the event. We tried Blizzard and other big corporations to see if they could pressure the embassy to take action faster, we had a letter sent from an Ontario, CA congressman to the embassy on behalf of Strelok. Today however, we were informed that Strelok was unable to change the date of his appointment and can’t get a VISA in time to attend.

Due to this we needed a player to replace Strelok. Our Open Tournament runner up (TSL_aLive) was the first choice. After contacting their team manager, we confirmed aLive’s participation in the NASL Grand Finals, and are happy to announce that he will be attending!"


Strelok managed to top Group C of the NASL with an impressive eight wins, losing only to dde. Despite being highly regarded, due in part to his Brood War past, Strelok has been unable to gain any kind of LAN success in SC2. At IEM V Gamesom he was unable to progress from the group stage, he was taken out in the first round of the Assembly Winter bracket and at Dreamhack Summer he again fell in the group stage.

As a Brood War player Strelok managed to win the bronze medal at the 2008 WCG.

Sources: TeamLiquid 1 and 2


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