The French Counter-Strike team, EnVyUs, has issued a statement regarding its decision to pull out of the Intel Extreme Masters competition. The team has withdrawn out of fears regarding its players safety in the aftermath of the Paris attacks last week that left 129 people dead and many more injured. Subsequent raids and threats in the nation have forced planes to land and left two more dead, one of whom is allegedly behind the original terrorist attacks.
“It is with great sadness that we must report our CS:GO team will not be attending @IEM in San Jose,” reads the statement. “As many of you know, our full team is French and the country is in a trying time. This morning as our players were beginning their travels, multiple airline threats and airplane diversions occurred. Simultaneously, additional threats and raids were carried out in Paris.
“At that time, we decided that the safety of our team members was at risk and to cancel the team’s appearance in San Jose. This brings great disappointment to our organization as we were looking forward to visiting the American fans and defending our @IEM title. We’d like to thank @ESL, @IEM and our supporters for understanding.
“Our hearts and thoughts are with the people of France. May they be resilient in this trial they are faced with.”
The 2015 IEM Masters will take place this weekend, November 21 to 22 at the SAP Center in San Jose, California.
