JiJieHao’s revamp brings back the quartet of players that represented Oceania at Ascension last year.
AUSTRALIA – JiJieHao have announced the finalization of their roster rebuild, bidding farewell to Nick “tixx” Quinn and Elvin “Maple” Sun while adding three new members. The two players were both in the initial plans for JiJieHao Bonkers but were released before the start of VALORANT Challengers Oceania Split 1 without competing in any matches.
JiJieHao’s main contingent comprises of players who made it to VCT Ascension Pacific last year representing the Bonkers team but disbanded not long after concluding their Bangkok campaign with a 5-6th place finish.
Riley “rDeeW” Wilkinson will reunite with the three other former Bonkers players, with analyst and former Royal Never Give Up player Dale “signed” Tang being promoted to the active roster. Lachlan “Punda” Bamford has been signed as a substitute, while renowned Australian caster Mitchell “pilski” Pilipowski has been named their new head coach.
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“Looking forward to the first season of VALORANT Challengers League 2024, as the core of this team proved last year the goal is to requalify for Ascension with their new roster. After working with a few teams behind the scenes and coaching overseas at VCT APAC and Acer Predator Finals, I’m keen to help the team however I can and hopefully they can replicate the same success again,” coach pilski shared with VALO2ASIA regarding the team’s objectives this season.
This won’t be an entirely new journey for Punda and pilski, as both have had prior associations with Bonkers at different points in time. Punda briefly joined them in early 2021, while pilski helped the team during the 2022 VCT APAC Stage 1 Challengers.
JiJieHao have made their way to the playoffs of VALORANT Challengers Oceania Split 1 by clinching victory in three out of four matches, with their only setback being a closely-fought battle against FOCUSGG.
With that, JiJieHao now have the following roster
- 🇦🇺 Jackson “Minimise” White
- 🇦🇺 Nicholas “DRAGON” Aleksandrovsky
- 🇬🇧 Luis “LEW” Hibbert
- 🇦🇺 Riley “rDeeW” Wilkinson
- 🇳🇿 Dale “signed” Tang
- 🇳🇿 Lachlan “Punda” Bamford (Substitute)
- 🇦🇺 Mitchell “pilski” Pilipowski (Coach)
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Cover photo courtesy of VCT Pacific
