Sabyasachi ‘antidote’ Bose, the famous AWPer of Optic India returned to his hometown after the whole fiasco. The 22-year-old has not spoken a word since the whole Nikhil ‘forsaken’ Kumawat incident unfolded, which lead to Optic withdrawing their setup from the region. Though there were several accusations and allegations, everything must now be put to rest. The complete statement is as mentioned below:
I would like to begin my statement with an apology to all my fans, supporters of the team and the Counter-Strike community in general. I love my country and have harbored dreams of representing the nation. Even though this information might not mean a lot to you, I was carrying the Indian flag with me throughout the ZOWIE eXTREMESLAND LAN Finals.
This statement is not for the naysayers and doubters, but for people who love me and this game. I would normally refrain from saying all this. The hate that I and the rest of the players received was unjustified but bearable, given the situation. But, when the hate comments trickle down to the family members, in my case my beloved mother, it becomes a pill that is hard to swallow. I love the community but it shames me to say that it let me down when it began targeting my Mother’s social media account to vent their frustration and sorrow. All in the rear view mirror now, though.
The event was my first experience of representing India at an International LAN. I was pumped. Leading 1-0 in the elimination series against Revolution, the incident caught me off-guard. We had taken a timeout to resolve an issue with Marzil’s monitor. As people could see, I was seated far away from forsaken.
Sabyasachi ‘antidote’ Bose
I had my headsets on and was not aware of the situation. All I could see was admins talking, which I reckoned was regarding Marzil’s issue. Soon, the number of admins increased, which alerted me a bit. I took my headsets off only to find out through my teammates that forsaken was caught running a hack on his desktop and we were disqualified immediately. I froze for a bit and broke down soon after. I wanted to confront him and perhaps, even take the matter into my own hands.
But, I chose to act professionally, also bearing in mind the repercussions that would befall on me for violent conduct on the stage or at the LAN event. We had no communication with forsaken after the incident.
Coming to the allegations about the Optic India players being aware of his hacks, let me tell you, in hindsight, forsaken is the most hard-working hacker anyone would probably come across. First of all, he was chosen through a rigorous tryout process conducted by Optic India and Sostronk. Obviously, everybody had heard rumors of him not being clean.
However, once we arrived at the boot camp, we were quickly won over by forsaken’s dedication towards the game. I am a player who takes pride in the gaming hours I put in towards improving my game. But, we used to take time off after practice to play other games with friends or just chill. Not forsaken though. He used to practice his aim on Deathmatch for hours and hours, even until 3 in the morning on some occasions.
I would like to remind people that I and a few other players from within the community had taken a stand against forsaken during our days at Eternal Esports. Our decision was driven by the constant rumors, which also led to us having a difficult time as no top team would agree to scrim with us. I have been associated with Counter Strike for almost a decade now. I truly love this game and If I would have seen something that looked unethical, I would have never continued to be a part of the team.
Some of his shots did raise suspicions. But, he had convinced us through his insane hours towards the game in front of our very eyes, that he could hit those shots; shots that most of us would find difficult to replicate. We never came across any suspicious software running in the background or anything that would alert us to the use of cheats in any way. But, then again, we were never there to investigate. I had a huge responsibility on my shoulders. I was focused on improving my own skill level and giving my all to do justice to the opportunity that Optic India had provided.
Looking back on it, I can just say that he managed to fool Optic India, Sostronk, the various tournament organizers, and his teammates as well. The cheat was well conceited so as to not come under our scanner and in a way, it is better for the Counter Strike scene that the incident happened as it would discourage other players from going down the same path.
As I have already mentioned the hate, I would also like to shed some light on the love and support I received. To the credit of the professional scene, all the players who were aware of the situation were always full of positivity towards me and the other players. The attendees at eXTREMESLAND offered support not only through the video message for the Indian community but members from NASR, Boot Dreamscape, and other teams came to console us and raise our spirits. The comforting and reassuring fact was the love I received from Nepal, Bangladesh and from within India as well.
I am a guy who loves to let my game talk for me. But, this was an incident where it became necessary to iterate just how oblivious we were to forsaken and his wrongdoings.
Looking towards the future, I am now blessed to be a part of 2ez gaming and hope to continue my dream of representing India at the grandest of stages.
Shoutout to Optic India for giving me and my former teammates a once in a lifetime opportunity and 2ez gaming for giving me a platform to continue doing what I do best.
