vo0 misses global finals, griffin in

Sander "vo0" Kaasjager has disappointed fans after announcing his decision to drop out of next month's IEM global finals due to exam commitments. The former Painkiller champion will be replaced by EG's Thomas "griffin" Wall, the next best qualifier from the American finals in Edmonton. The Canadian will take Kaasjager's spot in group B at CeBIT alongside Tim "DaHanG" Fogarty, America's form player ahead of next month's finals.

In other IEM news, ESL have announced that Asian champion Fan "Jibo" Zhibo and runner-up Cyrus "proZaC" Malenaki will line up in groups A and B respectively. This decision sees the former face the almost impossible task of overcoming two ESWC champions, a WSVG champion and a Quakecon champion if he's to progress to the playoffs in Hannover. Malenaki, also known as "the p1mp" (see him rate booth babes here), will meanwhile face a similarly tough lineup as he represents Asia at the global finals.

Group A                                                        Shane "rapha" Hendrixson Chance "Chance" Lacina Maciej "av3k" Krzykowski Anton "Cooller" Singov Alessandro "stermy" Avallone Fan "Jibo" Zhibo

Group B Tim "DaHanG" Fogarty Thomas "griffin" Wall Alexey "Cypher" Yanushevsky Kevin "strenx" Baeza Magnus "fox" Olsson Cyrus "proZaC" Malenaki

Related
ESL World