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Malaysian professional Dota 2 player Yap "xNova" Jian Wei played alone on stage at the main event of The International 2022 (TI11) on Oct. 20.

xNova was joined by four teddy bears donning the team's jersey at Suntec Arena.

The rest of his teammates played but were isolated at the hotel.

The 25-year-old was the only one in the team who did not catch Covid-19.

gigachad needs no teammates @xNovadota 🐻 pic.twitter.com/JyrvLCrwTo

— OG (@OGesports) October 20, 2022

After the match, xNova also tweeted about how he felt being alone on the stage.

In the same tweet, he also thanked fans for their support.

It definitely felt difficult to play alone on the stage today but hearing the crowd shout my name for the first time made me emotional to another level and it’s a feeling I’ll never forget… Thank you everyone for your kind words, your support… I’m grateful beyond words.

— xNova (@xNovadota) October 20, 2022

XNOVA STAY STRONG.
THE REAL GIGACHAD.
U DESERVE TO GOT EVERYONE RESPECT pic.twitter.com/oYp5vbftEe

— void (@Deadlypizza_) October 20, 2022

Epic battle

According to Yahoo, the RNG team had a strong start in the first two days of TI11 but failed to sustain the strong performance as the team mates came down with Covid-19 one after another.

On Day 1 and 2, RNG was top of the list with nine wins and one loss before losing every single game in Day 3 and dropped to elimination shortly after.

In the morning of Day 3, veteran player Somnus tested positive for Covid-19 and the RNG team had to forfeit game 2. By the end of Day 3, more players came down with Covid-19.

Despite the circumstance, the team -- Royal Never Give Up (RNG) -- still put on an epic battle against Entity on Oct. 20.

The 107-minute match is the longest main stage game in TI's history.

RNG eventually exited from TI11 in 13th-16th place, with over US$250,000 (S$356,000) in consolation, Yahoo wrote.

We ended the day with the longest Main Stage game in TI history, with a 107:02 match between RNG and Entity. With several Divine Rapier trades, Entity eventually took the win. #TI11 pic.twitter.com/pOCKs0x50R

— The International (@dota2ti) October 20, 2022

Top image via The International/Twitter.