Sashi out of Stake Pulse Beat III in straight sets

Sashi has bowed out winless in their first event with Aussie duo Tynan "TjP" Purtell and Jordan "Hatz" Bajic, with the new Asian core eliminated in the group stage of Stake Pulse Beat III overnight.

It was always going to be a tall order for Sashi in their debut in Sweden contending with the likes of Astralis and Fnatic, but try they did, with a few maps coming down to the wire. Sashi met Astralis in their opening best-of-three and had several opportunities to take Nuke after a solid 8-4 T-side.

Frederik "acoR" Gyldstrand (1.61, 30-18) did the damage for Sashi, and after rebounding from a lost pistol on CT, handed off the top spot on the server to Rasmus "Zyphon" Nordfoss (1.31, 25-21) as Sashi leapt to 12-8.

But Astralis adjusted, and missed opportunities saw Sashi forced into overtime, where the Kamil "siuhy" Szkaradek-led squad took full control with the momentum on their side, running away 16-13.

Astralis kept the pressure up into Mirage, sprinting to a 9-3 lead thanks to siuhy (1.46, 15-13). It was a battle of IGLs with TjP (1.29, 15-12) stepping up on the T-side to try and keep Sashi in the hunt, but despite putting six of the next seven rounds up, Astralis' lead proved insurmountable at 13-9.

Sashi met Fnatic in elimination, and unfortunately for the Danish org, there would be little mercy offered. Once again, Sashi kept it interesting on Inferno after going down 8-4 at the half, but a standout performance from Dmytro "jambo" Semera (1.97, 26-13) proved the difference-maker to run away winners 13-9.

Ancient was a one-sided affair: jambo and Artem "cairne" Mushynskyi combined for 30 kills in the 8-4 first half before winning the CT pistol and locking Sashi out of the map, series, and tournament 13-4.

Sashi will lick their wounds before heading to Romania for DracuLAN Season 7 next week, but the loss here all but spells the end of their chances of snatching an Asia VRS spot at the Singapore Major this season.