Astralis add Vietnamese player Anlelele as Singapore Major substitute

Astralis have registered Sashi player Anton "Anlelele" Huynh as their substitute for PGL Major Singapore, according to multiple sources cited by HLTV.

The Vietnamese player is reported to already be practising with the Danish organisation as it builds towards the tournament, and is expected to take the field for the team in Singapore, per HLTV's sources.

Anlelele steps in for Nikita "cmtry" Samolotov, who cannot play the Major for Astralis after being listed on the invited FUT VRS roster. The Ukrainian featured in a fifth match for that team alongside Álvaro "SunPayus" García after FUT VRS were knocked out of PGL Masters Bucharest, a move that under tournament rules now bars him from representing another side at the event.

Jakob "jabbi" Nygaard, who filled in for cmtry across three Stake Ranked Episode 5 matches, stays on Astralis' VRS roster but is not expected to see action in Singapore, HLTV's sources add.

Anlelele's involvement traces back to a planned region switch by Sashi, who sought to move into the Asian VRS after he disclosed Vietnamese citizenship. Combined with the signings of Tynan "TjP" Purtell and Jordan "Hatz" Bajic, that citizenship would have given the roster the Asian core needed to qualify for the switch.

The plan collapsed after Valve introduced new regulations requiring a three-month waiting period before any region change takes effect. Valve also ruled that organisations which had already swapped regions ahead of the Singapore Major would be ineligible for the event unless granted a specific exception.

BC.Game received such an exception, allowing their move to the Asian VRS following the signing of Tyson "asap" Paterson to go ahead in time for the Major.

Sashi CEO Claus "D0KT0R3N" Nielsen criticised the disparity, telling HLTV: "In my world, it’s very frightening that one team can solve it right away and the other team simply doesn’t get an answer." He added: "Why? Then we don’t get a fair chance to build further either."

Astralis sit 12th in Europe on the invite ranking published on 2 November, earning them a place in Stage 2 of the Singapore Major, which begins on 28 November.

The organisation's submitted lineup for the event is Love "phzy" Smidebrant, Victor "Staehr" Staehr, Gytis "ryu" Glušauskas, Kamil "siuhy" Szkaradek and Jakob "jabbi" Nygaard, with Anton "Anlelele" Huynh named as substitute.