The recently-founded esports team hoorai is proud to present Igor 'Hunter' Sambolskiy as its Quake 4 dueller. He became famous after he defeated Anton 'Cooller' Singov repeatedly at Russian tournaments and won the first map against him at the ESWC 2006. Thereby he showed that he deserves the opportunity to show the world what he is capable of. His professionalism and his dedication convinced hoorai that he is the perfect player to expand into the duelling sector. Although his internet connection makes it difficult for him to play online, Hunter is a player to watch out for, also because he is able to fully concentrate on electronic sports and thus can practise enough to maintain his shape.

Igor 'Hunter' Sambolskiy, the strongest Ukrainian Quake 4 player, is 22 years old (born 03.09.1983) and lives in Ukraine’s capital, Kiev. He started playing in 2000; just as most of gamers in Eastern Europe, some friends dragged him into a computer club. After playing StarCraft and Half-Life a little without serious ambitions, he decided to try his luck in Quake 3.

Playing under the nickname Newbie, he evolved to a top 3 player in Kiev, but in the two years he played actievly he never had a breakthrough. He has won lots of silver and bronze medals in smaller Ukrainian tournaments, but couldn't attend many tournaments outside of the country's borders. At a certain time, he reached the 7th-8th place at the WCG 2003 Open Cup behind players such as Cooller, Keep3r and uNkind, however he never was in the spotlight. Newbie/Hunter played in several teams of computer clubs, for example Virtual Portal, just to name one. He also was founder of the Ukrainian section of the famous clan CCCP, the most successful team in the country. Then, like many other Ukrainian duellers, he switched to Unreal Tournament 2004 and was the strongest player in the capital for about half a year. Afterwards, Hunter took a break from electronic sports for over one and a half years. When Quake 4 was released, he returned, stronger than ever.

He was the first one who defeated the Russian superstar Anton 'Cooller' Singov at Q4; during the ASUS Autumn Cup 2005, the first rather big tournament in the history of the game and part of the most important tournament series in Eastern Europe. There, Hunter beat the mousesports player in the final of the upper bracket, but afterwards lost to him in the overall final. Three months later, at the ASUS Winter, Hunter didn't manage to win against Cooller, but at least won one map. While he couldn't participate at the ASUS Spring because of the Ukrainian ESWC qualification, which he won, he encountered him in the end of April at the GIGA Games 06, another tournament in Russia organised by GIGABYTE. There, Hunter played against Cooller in the semi finals and defeated him again, but then, once more, lost in the Lower Bracket final, this time with 2:1 in maps. Anyway, his victory showed that he is still almost on the same level as the player, who won CPL Winter and WSVG Dreamhack Summer and thereby probably is the strongest Quake 4 player in the world.

At the Electronic Sports World Cup in Paris, Hunter was in the media spotlight even before the first match even started: He, not being seeded at all, was in the toughest group together with another insider's tip, Paul 'Rufus' Oosterhaven from the Netherlands, the Spanish top player Jordi 'SombrA' Orteu and the man to beat: Anton 'Cooller' Singov. So Hunter's first match was against Cooller - on the big stage, in front of many spectators. The Ukrainian won the first map, but then lost with 1:2. After defeating SombrA, he lost to Rufus and dropped out in the first group phase. Soon, he will get a new chance, and he is eager to show the world that he is not only good against Cooller, but can compete with the world's finest.

Being a full-time player, Hunter mostly practises offline or online inside of Ukraine, where he has well-playable pings. Actually he is able to play online in Europe, but with a big disadvantage because of his high ping, which is about 60 ms, and thus weakens him immense. It can't be excluded that he practises online once in a while or even participates in an online tournament, but definitely he is focussed on playing in LAN, that's why bootcamps also play an important role in his training schedule. Having played Quake 3 some years ago, hoorai's dueller would be able to return to his former game if there would be any huge tournaments going on which would justify the switch; however he prefers Quake 4 and doesn't have that much motivation to start practising Quake 3 again.

Hunter might have problems with getting a visa into some countries, but hoorai is confident that national borders won't prevent him from showing the world what he is capable of and that he gets the chance to attend all the important tournaments. Visa problems are the reason why he won't be able to attend QuakeCon 2006, but hoorai hopes it is the last time he has this kind of problems and will do everything possible to help him to overcome them. Currently, his English isn't that good, but he is learning it and hopes that soon there won't be any language barriers anymore.

Statement Igor 'Hunter' Sambolskiy:

Many people turned their back at me after I didn't perform well at the ESWC, this was because I hadn't practiced that much and the internet connection in my country is so bad. But the guys at hoorai believe in my strength and I think that I will live up to their expectations. I am very happy that this team took me in and I hope I will be able to become a irreplacable part of that family. Soon I will participate in various big tournaments and I think that in future you will hear the name hoorai\Hunter more than once. I hope that with the tag of hoorai I will improve even more and finally will enter the list of the strongest players in the world.

Statement Darius 'Zwerk' Penner:

After we presented our Counter-Strike lineup on thursday, we can be proud to disclose the name of our announced dueller. Igor caught our eye with a remarkable performance at the ASUS tournaments, after a further in-depth scouting we recently contacted him. We hope to participate at the most big tournaments throughout this year, if politics don't thwart our plans. I am looking forward to a successful time.

About hoorai

hoorai is an international electronic sports team with the aim to become one of the most recognized gaming organisations and to involve professional athletes who compete in the most prestigious tournaments. Currently there is a Counter-Strike section from Finland and the hereby announced Quake 4 player Igor 'Hunter' Sambolskiy. Being an upcoming project, hoorai was founded on the first of July 2006 and has its head quarter located in Bremen, Germany. The project shall reflect professionalism and dedication in order to evolve consistently. The hoorai players are regarded as personalities of public agenda and shall get the attention they deserve with a lot of information material about them available on the soon-released website, which will bring the public nearer to the players than ever before. By now, there is a prepage on www.hoorai.com.

About brandthem

Founded in 2006 by a couple of esports-interested young men, brandthem defines itself as a junction between gamers, fans and esports-interested companies. brandthem runs several projects - from player promotion over on- and offline promotion events up to a multigaming clan. A staff of nine people builds a competence team in various classes - from business- and legal issues to player- and technical support. The public relations department takes care of an appealing presentation of the players as well as performance on TV shows and exhibitions.

brandthem is fully responsible for the project hoorai.

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http://www.hoorai.com - #hoorai (QuakeNet)