Pakistani-born whiz kid Sumail Hassan and his team Evil Geniuses (EG) have grabbed the 3rd spot at the DOTA2 2016 International Championship with a $2.1 million prize money.
The tournament was held over the weekend with teams from all over the world in participation. Sumail’s team, Evil Geniuses, was last year’s reigning champion looking to win a second title in a row, a feat that hasn’t been achieved by any team so far. However, an unsteady Evil Geniuses were knocked out by team Digital Chaos in a 2-1 set defeat which shifted them to the third spot. Evil Geniuses is now tied with Na’Vi for the most top 3 finishes in the tournament’s history. The second and third spot this year went to DC and Wings Gaming who earned $3.4 million and $9.1 million respectively.
Sumail started playing Dota at the age of 7 and by the age of 10, he became so immersed in it that his parents began to worry for his future. He put little effort in his school work and would spend most of his time raking up impressive amateur credentials in Dota2. Four years later, his family shifted to the United States. That is when his talent was truly discovered.
Sumail had been playing in the North American Elite League for quite some time now. Upon arriving in America, he quickly became the highest rated player in the in-house league, establishing himself as one of the best upcoming talents. This led him to be eventually recruited by Evil Geniuses in January 2015. Evil Geniuses (EG) is the highest earning Dota2 team in North America with the most formidable team line-up and have proven themselves to be among the best in the world.
Sumail’s debut with the Evil Geniuses was at the Dota2 League Season 5 on January 6th 2015, where he failed to impress and was partially the reason for his team’s loss. This led to a lot of critique on whether Sumail was even deserving of a spot on a team like EG or not. However, Sumail would eventually get a chance to redeem himself during the February Dota Asia Championships. His most notable performance during the event was in Game 3 of the finals, where he found himself with a 0-3-0 score on Storm Spirit before the three-minute mark. With a finishing score of 17-7-11, Sumail, at the age of 15 and playing his second-ever LAN event, led his team to capture the $1.2 Million Dollar Dota Asia Championships title.
Sumail was able to help his team keep their winning streak in The International 2015 well. EG took home $6,634,661 for their first place finish, making Sumail the youngest player ever to surpass $1 million in eSports winnings.
Image Source – Bloomberg
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