- Cloud9’s Abay “HObbit” Khasenov was allegedly involved in fixing CS:GO matches
- The scheme consisted of HObbit and his former teammates intentionally lose their first pistol rounds
- HObbit denied all these allegations
Kazakhstani pro player Rustam “5TRYK#R” Alimkulov has accused Cloud9 player Abay “HObbit” Khasenov of helping his former team PARTY in fixing CS:GO matches.
5TRYK#R Accuses HObbit
The world of competitive CS:GO is unfortunately not safe from drama, just like other esports. What could be considered the latest big controversy on the CS:GO scene is several allegations that Cloud9 player Abay “HObbit” Khasenov was involved in several attempts of match-fixing in the StarLadder Regional Minor Championship CIS closed qualifier at the end of 2015.
These allegations come from Kazakhstani pro player Rustam “5TRYK#R” Alimkulov, who came forward with pieces of evidence that HObbit was involved in the apparent fixing. The 31-year-old Kazakhstani pro also mentioned Bektiyar “fitch” Bahytov, Adlet “keeN” Nyrseytov, and Magzhan “fANTASTIKA” Temirbolat were also involved in the scheme. All of them, including 5TRYK#R, played for PARTY.
Over the past week, Alimkulov stated that PARTY’s members decided to intentionally lose their first pistol round of each of the three group stage matches and place bets on them. These were supposed to net each player around $5,000. However, some of these bets were canceled by the bookmaker after the fact due to the suspicion of nefarious activity.
What Evidence Does 5TRYK#R Put Forward?
“We did not earn anything from the match because Fitch told other people [outside the team] and so the bets were canceled,” 5TRYK#R told Richard Lewis of Dexerto “We also had our team and clan tag banned by the bookmaker.”
То add proof to his claims, 5TRYK#R showed Lewis conversation logs involving HObbit and himself, screengrabs of the bookmaker’s website, and a TeamSpeak recording from a talk with the team. All of these can be found in Dexerto’s article. After the team failed to make it into the CIS Minor, it fell apart. 5TRYK#R said he left the team because the other players still wanted to fix matches, an activity he was not willing to do.
Just a few hours after Dexerto published their article on the matter, HObbit tweeted out a response, denying the allegations he was involved in fixing matches.
Out of all PARTY members, HObbit was the only one to achieve massive success. He first played for Gambit in 2017 when he was a part of the lineup that won the PGL Kraków Major under Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko’s guidance. Later, HObbit had some brief stints with HellRaisers and Winstrike before rejoining Gambit in 2020. He helped his team win the IEM Katowice in February 2021, and other tournaments last year, before the roster was finally purchased by Cloud9 in April this year.
Lewis compiled all the information that 5TRYK#R told him and gave it to the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC), which has reportedly begun a preliminary investigation process.
