Lelis was released from duties to Soniqs

Brazilian esportsman Rodrigo 'Lelis' Lelis Santos has become a free agent. The club's management decided to relieve Lelis of his duties to the organization after his statue in Dota 2 got on The International 2022 broadcast with the inscription "run nigga".

According to representatives of Soniqs, the club will not tolerate any kind of racism or any other signs of discrimination in its esports club. In addition, they said that they demand high standards of professionalism from esports players, which of course include tolerance and political correctness towards other races.

The incident happened during the confrontation between Soniqs and BOOM Esports. Many of Lelis' colleagues condemned this behavior on his part and called the use of a statue with that name in the main Dota 2 championship wrong. They are surprised that Valve and PGL did not respond to this incident with lightning speed. The Brazilian player, in turn, apologized on social networks and noted that he carelessly added such an inscription many years ago and had already forgotten that he had such a statue.

Soniqs are no longer participating in The International 2022 after losing the match against BOOM Esports. In replays, the team lost in the match for reaching the playoffs.

The composition of Soniqs now looks like this:

• Quinn 'Quinn' Callahan
• Yawar 'YawaR' Hassan
• TBA
• Arif 'MSS' Anwar
• Adrian 'Fata' Trinks

Who will replace the team's ofneiler is currently unknown. An announcement with the signing of another player will have to appear later.

The main stage of The International 2022 runs from October 15 to 30. The total prize pool of the Dota 2 World Championship has almost reached $17,000,000 and now stands at $16,803,559. The remaining 16 participants are currently battling for the top prize of $7,561,578.

According to the results of the group stage, Evil Geniuses, Thunder Awaken, Team Secret, PSG.LGD, Tundra Esports, OG, Team Liquid and Team Aster advanced to the upper bracket, while Hokori, beastcoast, Team Spirit, BOOM Esports, Fnatic started their way from the lower bracket, Gaimin Gladiators, Royal Never Give Up and Entity.

After the end of the group stage, not only Soniqs, but also BB Team, Talon Esports and TSM completed their journey in the tournament.