CS:GO Asia Minor Closed Qualifier Final Results
The CS:GO Asia Minor Middle East Closed Qualifier took place over the weekend, and it was an exciting tournament to watch. Two South African teams travelled to Dubai to compete, with the hopes that their journey would take them to ESL One Rio 2020. Unfortunately, both ATK Arena and Goliath Gaming fell to the international competition this past Saturday, 7 March 2020.
The Results
In our coverage for Day 1 of the Asia Minor Closed Qualifier, we reported that both ATK Arena and Goliath Gaming dropped to the lower bracket. Both South African teams put up a great fight. Goliath beat NASR Esports 2-1 in the first round of the upper bracket before getting knocked down to the lower bracket. ATK Arena narrowly lost to YaLLa Esports in the first round of the upper bracket. ATK then went on to defeat NASR Esports 2-1 in the lower bracket.
Day two saw both South African teams fighting their hearts out for their tournament lives. Goliath Gaming faced off against Aequus Club but things didn’t go as planned. Aequus Club convincingly beat Goliath 16-4 on Mirage, then 16-2 on Vertigo to knock the South African team out of the competition. It is worth noting that Aequus Club made it all the way to the Asia Minor Closed Qualifier final.
ATK Arena faced off against Team Finest and this was a nailbiting match, to say the least. ATK came out of the gate strong, beasting Team Finest on Dust II with a score of 19-16. On Inferno, Team Finest turned the tables on the South African squad, evening up the match score 1-1. The final map, Mirage, was heartbreaking to watch. ATK Arena took a huge lead of 12-3 playing on the CT side. However, the South African team couldn’t finish off Team Finest in the second half and got knocked out of the tournament, with a final score on Mirage of 16-14.
In the end, Camel Riders faced off against Aequus Club, with Camel Riders claiming the Asia Minor Championship.
Final standing:
- 1st Place: Camel Riders
- 2nd Place: Aequus
- 3rd Place: Yalla
- 4th Place: Finest
- 5-6th Place: ATK
- 5-6th Place: Goliath
- 7-8th Place: NASR
- 7-8th Place: JustPassingBy
We are proud of the fight the South African teams put up despite playing with high latency (due to a server ruling) which even led Aequus Club to pull out of the finals. It is clear that these local teams have the skill to go further in the future. GGWP.
Header image via Valve
