Chelleos out of Sashi as season from hell unravels

Michael “chelleos” Hawkins’ tenure in Sashi has lasted zero maps and two days after he revealed he was out of the squad and on his way home today.

The New Zealand AWP-IGL confirmed his departure to DFRAG, but also posted the news on X (Twitter) on Oct. 11. He was revealed as Sashi's newest OCE import on Oct. 9.

“Sashi didn’t work out for me, BOL [best of luck],” he said, adding that he’d be free to play this week’s Logitech G Pro Series and next fortnight‘s DFRAG Invitational in Brisbane, and that he is available as a free agent and hadn’t signed a contract with Sashi.

The news comes as Sashi was gearing up for a spate of overseas LANs in an effort to qualify for the PGL Singapore Major via Asia’s VRS standings.

Sashi signed up for several events in Europe and North America; however, their status at some of these events was not confirmed, given Sashi had registered with their previous Danish core and no longer satisfied a registered core-three rule.

It is possible the org could apply for approval under extraordinary circumstances, but a decision to have them play would ultimately be up to the tournament’s organiser.

HLTV sources say Frederik "acoR" Gyldstrand, who was benched for chelleos, has already resumed practicing with Sashi. His return to the squad would see them satisfy the core-three requirement, but Valve has not yet approved Sashi's region swap since Anton "Anlelele" Huynh switched nationalities.

Chelleos is already en route to Australia, and according to sources close to DFRAG, will return to the Rooster lineup for the team's upcoming LAN events in Brisbane.

Sashi contract details shared; org reportedly approached nearly 20 players

More light has been shed on Sashi’s attempt to switch regions to Asia in an attempt to qualify for Singapore.

Damon "damyo" Portelli inadvertently shared details about Sashi approaching OCE players during an ECL Cup official with Rooster overnight. Caster SV_TheUnknown opened a chat window while the match was being set up, revealing damyo messaging his opponent with the details.

Such details supposedly include contract offers of as much as $4,000 AUD (approx. $2,800 USD, $2,500 EUR) a month, and that at least 20 players were approached by the org.

This additional information comes after THUNDER dOWNUNDER’s Chris “dexter” Nong comment on Oct. 6, in which he stated the contract Sashi offered was only two months in length.

“The contract is for two months, then they kick you," dexter said. "That’s not investing in a region, that’s being a parasite to the region. The players are never to blame, but the system that allows it to happen in a very clearly parasitic way, is."

This was refuted by Sashi in a response from owner D0KT0R3N, who stated the contract length offered was not two, but five months.

DFRAG has reached out to D0KT0R3N and the Sashi organisation for comment, but has not received a response at the time this article was published.

• Read more: Valve closes VRS region switch loophole in time for Singapore Major

Sashi is set to debut its Aussie pickups Tynan "TjP" Purtell and Jordan "Hatz" Bajic at Stake Pulse Beat III on Oct. 12 assuming they are permitted to do so – they'll likely need to rely on benched Frederik "acoR" Gyldstrand returning to the line-up.