G2 HooXi struck by tragedy as father dies ahead of BLAST event
Helena Kristiansson/ESL Gaming via ESPATG2 in-game leader Rasmus ‘HooXi’ Nielsen has revealed that his father unexpectedly passed away while he was traveling to compete in the BLAST Premier World Final.
In a Twitlonger post, the Danish player revealed that he received the news shortly after landing in Abu Dhabi, where his G2 team will attend the BLAST Premier World Final.
HooXi added that he will respect his family’s wish and play at the event, noting that he hopes it will create “a distraction” for him during this extremely difficult period.
“It was very sudden as nothing seemed out of the ordinary when I said goodbye to him the night before when I left to catch my plane,” HooXi wrote.
“I feel no need to share anything about my relationship with my dad besides the fact that I loved him. The only reason I am sharing this is to let people know at the event why I might not be as excited to see them or just in general act the way I normally do.”
CS:GO community expresses support for HooXi
On Twitter, HooXi received an outpouring of support from several high-profile figures in the CS:GO community.
Former G2 CEO Carlos Rodríguez, Heroic’s Casper ‘cadiaN’ Møller, and FaZe’s Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen, among others, all tweeted their condolences, along with a host of teams.
HooXi has been on G2 Esports’ books since August when he was signed alongside Australian player Justin ‘jks’ Savage. Prior to that, he notably led Copenhagen Flames to the Majors in Stockholm and Antwerp.
G2 face a tough task to progress from Group A at the BLAST Premier World Finals. They will take on FaZe in their opening match of the group, which also includes Team Liquid and the IEM Rio Major champions,, Outsiders.