Tarik ‘tarik’ Celik has applauded the Sentinels organization for the way they have dealt with Tyson ‘TenZ’ Ngo’s difficult situation.
Sentinels announced on April 27 that TenZ will sit out the rest of the VCT Americas split, with substitute player Jimmy ‘Marved’ Nguyen remaining in the starting lineup after already playing the super week matches against LOUD and MIBR.
Although TenZ will not be part of the active lineup for the foreseeable future, he will be with the team “every step of the process,” according to head coach Adam Kaplan, who insisted that the player “is not going anywhere.”
Questioned on his stream about Sentinels’ announcement, tarik praised the organization for keeping TenZ involved and giving him time to recover.
“I like that they clarified that Tyson is still on the team and he’s still going to be there for all of it,” tarik said. “They’re just giving him some time to take a break.”
TenZ became the target of intense scrutiny following Sentinels’ rough start to the split, with a number of people in the Valorant community questioning whether he is still capable of helping the team challenge for top honors. In the face of the heavy criticism, TenZ’s fiancée, Kyedae ‘Kyedae’ Shymko, called for fans to show empathy for the player and revealed that he had been dealing with a finger problem.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
The injury and a positive test result saw TenZ miss Week 4 of VCT Americas, in which Sentinels lost to LOUD 2-1 and beat MIBR 2-0.
On a recent live stream, TenZ admitted that he has been struggling to perform of late. “I have never had this experience this bad in my life,” he said. “It feels like I am constantly zoning out in anything I do. I see someone and I zone out. It feels like my vision goes blurry.”
Sentinels are currently tied with NRG and MIBR for sixth place with a 2-3 record. This weekend, they will take on second-placed Cloud9, who have only lost one series this split.
“Let’s see what they cook this weekend,” tarik said. “Cloud9 is a big game.”
