Gambit Youngsters transition to six-man roster with Hobbit addition

Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov returns to the organization with which he lifted a Major trophy in 2017, adding maturity to Gambit Youngsters.

With an average age of just 19, Gambit Youngsters's five-man lineup was by far the youngest in the current top 30, with a big gap even to the second-youngest Cloud9 who sit at 21.1. The CIS organization has decided to mature the team by returning HObbit to the fold.

HObbit will take on the role of the in-game leader as Gambit Youngsters transition to a six-man roster model which they "are going to test over the next couple of months".

Despite HObbit's experience, which includes winning the PGL Krakow Major with Gambit in a year which he was also the 11th best player in the world, the team will retain the Youngsters tag moving forward.

"Internally we agreed that this line-up will mature as soon as we become a stable top 30 team in the world according to HLTV.org or qualify for the Major", the team statement reads. "We expect our youth squad to reach these heights with the return of one of the key players in the history of our organization".

HObbit stepped down from Gambit in 2018 as the team went through a number of roster changes trying to regain their 2017 form. The Kazakh player then had unfruitful stints in HellRaisers and most recently Winstrike, departing the latter team in July.

Over the past two years, Gambit Youngsters have been an interesting prospect, practically taking over the mantle of Gambit's primary team after the main lineup featuring Mihail "⁠Dosia⁠" Stolyarov and co. disbanded. Youngsters reached their peak rank of #25 in November of last year and are currently ranked #28, but are still looking for stability at the top and their first Big event outing.

Gambit Youngsters are now:

Timofey "⁠interz⁠" Yakushin
Anton "⁠supra⁠" Tšernobai
Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov
Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov
Vladislav "⁠nafany⁠" Gorshkov
Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov

Ivan "⁠F_1N⁠" Kochugov (coach)