JiJieHao’s recent acquisition involves bringing over the entirety of the Bonkers lineup and expanding their presence into the APAC region.
AUSTRALIA – Bonkers have completed a move to Chinese organization JiJieHao, as announced by the non-backed Australian squad. The announcement follows closely after Bonkers unveiled their starting lineup for the upcoming season just a few days ago.
The lineup is made up of in-game leader Jackson “Minimise” White, Nicholas “Dragon” Aleksandrovsky, Nick “tixx” Quinn, Elvin “Maple” Sun, Luis “LEW” Hibbert. It contains the core of the former Bonkers lineup that represented Oceania at VCT Ascension Pacific in 2023 and clinched a top-six finish.
During the 2023 season, JiJieHao found themselves struggling to post results as they fumbled to find a working roster composition around the former Griffin E-Sports core. Despite a promising start to the first half of the year by defeating the likes of Trace Esports, TYLOO, and Bilibili Gaming, their overall performance led to their absence from any domestic Chinese events throughout the year.
This happened despite having various high-profile members at different points of their roster such as former Team Secret coach Chong “Fayde” Hoc Wah, former NAOS Esports analyst-turned-coach Lowell “Ell” Marcelo, analyst Dale “signed” Tang, Dragon, and LEW, among others.
Rather than considering an exit from VALORANT or pursuing an entirely new roster, JiJieHao chose to retain two of their players and an analyst from Australia, relocating as a unit to compete in the Challengers Oceania circuit.
With organizational support now behind them, Bonkers will look to maintain their status as the representatives of OCE in Ascension and break into the tier-one circuit that is the VCT Pacific League. The roster’s debut for their new organization will come soon in the upcoming Challengers Oceania Stage 1, the schedule for which is yet to be announced.
JiJieHao now field the following ‘JJH BONK’ team:
- 🇦🇺 Jackson “Minimise” White
- 🇦🇺 Nicholas “Dragon” Aleksandrovsky
- 🇦🇺 Nick “tixx” Quinn
- 🇦🇺 Elvin “Maple” Sun
- 🇬🇧 Luis “LEW” Hibbert
- 🇳🇿 Dale “signed” Tang (Analyst)
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Cover photo courtesy of VCT Pacific
