THE Filipino representatives who tried their best to raise the most prestigious trophy in Dota 2 have been stranded in Romania. This was confirmed by a tweet posted by Fnatic’s Team Director, Eric “ReiNNNN” Khor, who asked for the assistance of the Department of Foreign Affairs, ABS-CBN News, and esports advocate and former senator Bam Aquino.
Their inability to return to the Philippines mostly stems from Malacañang's decision to tag Romania under the “red list” category (that is, the country has a high risk of COVID-19), leading to travel restrictions for inbound travelers.
This was implemented last October 16, 2021, when Romania experienced an upsurge in COVID cases. This was also the time when The International 10 was about to end.
Khor revealed that the Filipinos were scheduled to travel home on October 18 or 19.
Filipino TI pros stranded in Romania
Besides Khor, Fnatic’s Pao “KilltheMage” Bago, expressed his gratitude to the Philippines consulates from Berlin and Budapest for assisting them.
Though there were initial hiccups for the Filipino representatives, there has been some progress with the situation, as indicated in Bago’s recent tweets.
T1 offlaner Carlos “Kuku” Palad and his teammate Karl “Karl” Matthew Baldovino were able to return to the Philippines. He likewise revealed that only 5 people remain in Romania; however, they were able to secure their flights going home.
Besides announcing the good news about the Filipino Dota 2 stalwarts, Bago mentioned the DFA rules that allowed them to enter the Philippines. Eventually, he ended the thread praising the DFA, the embassies in Berlin and Budapest, OWWA, as well as the tournament organizers and his team for their support.
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