ESL One: Road to Rio 2020 Qualification update: Asia and Oceania

The qualification for ESL One: Road to Rio 2020 began over 3 weeks ago with teams competing for ranking points in order to in order to establish a qualification order.

The qualification process is split among 6 different regions with all the top teams participating. We bring you the latest updates on the qualification of the Asian and the Oceania region.

1. Asia- 6th- 10th May

8 teams were divided into two groups with regional powerhouses Vici ybdj and Tyloo LBET were the favourites to take home the title. Both these teams qualified from the their respective groups placing 1st and 2nd respectively. The other two teams to qualify were D13 and Tiger. Lucid Dream, Beyond Esports, Mazaalai and Camel Riders were eliminated.

The first semi-finals was between the heavy weights Tyloo and Vici. Vici were the favorites to take the series based on the form they had shown in the group stages. But Tyloo bought their A game to the fore and beat Vici 2-1 in a grueling series. Vici won the first map 16-11 on Inferno before Tyloo managed to win 16-4 on Vertigo and 16-9 on Nuke.

Tiger emerged victorious in the other semi-final against D13, knocking them out of a grand final contention. They won 2-0 winning 16-7 on Dust II and 22-19 on Nuke.

With Tyloo being a seasoned contender and no Vici to challenge them they were expected to win the finals. But the Mongolian squad were there to prove they were no pushovers. They lost the first map of Dust II 16-9 before bouncing back to defeat the Chinese 16-7 on Inferno.

The final map on Overpass was a back and forth affair with the match eventually tied at 15-15. But Tiger held their nerve to win 4 straight rounds in overtime to take map 19-15 and the series 2-1. It was an upset but with so many matches happening for the qualification on Road to Rio, nothing can be counted out.

2. Oceania- 6th-10th May

The region was also divided in the same way as the South American region, 4 teams participated in the group stages. With 100 Thieves deciding to play from the NA region, Renegades were the favorites from this region. And they did perform up to their potential winning all 3 round robin games to qualify directly for the grand finals.

ORDER managed to come in second, Chiefs Esports Club came in third and Ground Zero placed last.

The semi final match up between Chiefs and ORDER was won by latter winning 2-0 to book a place in the final . ORDER managed to mount a 11 round comeback on Train after trailing 13-2 in the first half. They won 11 rounds straight to tie the score at 13-13 before the match was tied in regulation. ORDER managed to hold their nerve to close out the map 22-19 in double overtime.

With a monumental comeback in their bag ORDER challenged Renegades in the grand final with momentum on their side. They picked Train as their map choice while Renegades went with Inferno and Dust II was left as the decider. ORDER continued their strong showing on Train winning 16-7.

They continued their strong showing pushing Renegades back on their map pick, Inferno. But Renegades managed to calm their nerves and won 22-19 in double overtime. The decider map, DUST II was closed out by Renegades winning 16-12 to start their campaign on the right foot on the Road to Rio.

Note:- The Rio major was scheduled to take place in May 2020 but due to the ongoing pandemic the major was shifted to November 2020 and hence the Road to Rio qualifying stage. The prize pool of first Major will be added to the November Major. ESL on its part have decided to host three qualification rounds in order for teams to remain at their peak. Each qualifying stage will have Regional Major Points(RMR) which will be added to determine the qualification order. Each qualifying stage will have a prize pool of $10,000 both the Asian and Oceania region. To read more about this, click here.

To get the latest updates on the SA and the NA regions, click here.

To get the latest updates on the CIS and European qualifiers, click here.