kaze: "Playing in front of the home crowd is the best feeling we have ever felt"

"We still haven't proved ourselves good enough to proceed to the next stage," the sniper admitted after Rare Atom bowed out in Shanghai.

Rare Atom earned the opportunity to play in front of their fans in China after securing the second spot at the Perfect World Shanghai Major through the Asia RMR, but expectations of them were low coming into the Opening Stage.

The Chinese team came into the Major ranked 57th in the world, over 20 positions below the next closest team, Cloud9, and crushing losses to The MongolZ and Virtus.pro on day one seemed to set Rare Atom up for an early exit heading into the 0-2 elimination pool.

A surprise victory over fnatic upset those expectations, much to the delight of the Chinese fans who came to cheer on the only home team in attendance, but Rare Atom couldn't repeat the effort against MIBR despite stealing the Brazilian team's map pick and were ultimately sent packing with a 1-3 record from the first Major in China.

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Rare Atom eliminated from home Major by MIBR

"We tried out best, but the result is not good enough," Andrew "⁠kaze⁠" Khong told HLTV after Rare Atom's elimination. "We still haven't proved ourselves good enough to proceed to the next stage."

Despite the early exit, the Malaysian player said that beating fnatic gave Rare Atom confidence, adding that he hoped it made the Chinese fans proud and gave them something to cheer for.

"It's a good feeling playing in front of the crowd, we gained so much confidence and support from the fans. It's the best feeling we have ever felt," he said.

"I hope the crowd will cheer for MongolZ and FlyQuest, because the Asian region has been looked down upon by everyone," he added about the Mongolian team making it to the next stage. "Hopefully the crowd will cheer for them and give them their support, they are the only Asian hope."

[Editor's note: This interview was conducted before FlyQuest were eliminated.

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kaze, sorry for the loss. You're eliminated from the Shanghai Major. You did get a win yesterday and a map win today, but in the end, you finished 1-3. How are you feeling after that?

We had a rough day on day one, losing two games. That was not the result we wanted. It was tough games against teams like MongolZ and VP during our first and second matchup. We tried our best, but the result is not good enough.

The next day we fought against fnatic, and I would say we gained our momentum back. We had a good start against them, and today we still had a good start, but it still wasn't good enough. We still haven't proved ourselves good enough to proceed to the next stage.

The level of teams at Majors has gotten better and better, yet you still got a series win against fnatic yesterday and a map against MIBR today. Can you tell me about coming here and doing better than what people thought you would?

Getting a win against fnatic boosted our confidence, but as I said in the first question, with these results we still haven't proved ourselves against big teams.

How was it playing in front of the crowd, coming here as the home team and having the crowd behind you?

First, I'd like to apologize for day one because we didn't show much better gameplay. But on the second day we managed to prove ourselves and tried to make our fans proud, give them something to cheer for.

It's a good feeling playing in front of the crowd, we gained so much confidence and support from the fans. It's the best feeling we have ever felt, playing in front of the home town. We are very thankful for the fans who are cheering for us even through tough times. Hopefully they'll continue to support us.

You're eliminated, but another Asias team, MongolZ, are through to the next stage. Are you supporting them now that you are out, and how did it feel watching them go 3-0?

I hope the crowd will cheer for MongolZ and FlyQuest, because the Asian region has been looked down upon by everyone. Hopefully the crowd will cheer for them and give them their support, they are the only Asian hope.

I know you said that you didn't prove yourself good enough, but as you said, the Asian region has been looked down upon and you did have a good result by beating fnatic. A lot of people had you 0-3, do you feel like you took another step forward for Asia?

For now, the Asian scene is growing thanks to a lot of tournaments being hosted in Asia; in China and Mongolia. Hopefully, the scene will grow by hosting more tournaments so more teams will get experience and be able to grow more.

Lastly, just touching on that growth, ChildKing had a good showing yesterday and I wanted to ask what the experience playing on this team has been like with these new players.

The new young blood like ChildKing are amazing because they have proved themselves on the big stage, so hopefully we'll see more of them performing well. Maybe the young blood in Asia and China can prove something one day.