As promised - Hwanni Interview Sorry it is in another thread, it was too long to post here.
We're extremely proud to announce not one but two great additions; Lee Seok "aLive" Han and Sung Hwan "Hwanni" Kim.
He may only be 19 years old, but Lee Seok "aLive" Han is already considered to be one of the best Terran players in the world. It's been a long hard road for him over the past month, and we'd like to thank all for helping make it a happy ending. We have agreed a transfer with Coach Lee after much discussion, that will allow aLive to leave TSL and join FnaticRaidCall officially.
Here is what Coach Lee from TSL had to say about the transfer:
"TSL's Lee Seok Han (aLive) will be moving to team FnaticRaidCall starting from 2012/2/1. Fnatic and TSL have found a consensus after a long discussion period. Lee Seok Han will be playing Hot6 GSL Code S Round of 16 under Fnatic. TSL's coach Lee has put a lot of effort to Lee Seok and thus feels a bit sorrow on his departure, but he wishes best of luck and better performance of alive at his new team and wishes fnatic to take good care of Lee Seok as well. TSL is currently looking for a high quality Terran or Protoss player and will announce recruitments of him or her in the near future."
Here's what Lee Seok "aLive" Han himself had to say about this news:
"I am glad that this issue has been resolved in a peaceful and positive way and I am looking to put this episode behind me. I will try to do my best to do well in my new environment, a proud member of FnaticRaidCall."
We decided to not stop there, in our ambitious plans for Korea, Han Lee is not the only one who will be putting on those black and orange colors today, Sung Hwan "Hwanni" Kim will be joining us as Korean General Manager.
From Fnatics side our General Manager, Elroy Pinto, and overseer of Fnatic SC2 said the following:
"We are glad to have finally reached an amicable deal with Coach Lee, TSL & aLive. As of today we are proud to have aLive joining our ranks as a member of our StarCraft 2 team. Fnatic strongly believes that for the development of the scene it was in everyones best interest that we paid a transfer fee to Coach Lee.
We respect Coach Lee's dedication and send our apologies to him - we greatly admire his team and his ability. We also respected aLive's decision to resolve this with Coach Lee this is the reason why this took a while.
As for our fans - we thank you for trusting us and believing in our ability to resolve this amicably. Now go watch aLive play in the Hot6 GSL Code S Round 16, and wish him luck!"
Fnatic's CEO and founder, Sam Mathews, had a few words about the new appointment:
"We have long had an envious eye on the Korean market, with its expansive team structure, media, and fan base, it is by all accounts the test bed for eSports. In 2012 we made it our mission to make our orange and black mark on Korea. Hwanni joins us at the begining of that endevour, and we're excited to have him! He's well respected and we have known him for many years. He will oversee all our operations in KR. Welcome Hwanni!"
As we've mentioned before, we've got huge plans for Fnatic this year, so watch this space.
Korean General Manager, Hwanni, had this to say:
"I am very thrilled to join Fnatic. I also would like to thank all the people in Fnatic letting this to happen. Will do my best to make this team great ever. Thank You."
Fnatic would also like to thank Brian Hyun Choi (spirit_sentinel) for all his help and for being instrumental in all of fnatics korean endevours to date. Last but not least thank you so much to our executive Starcraft Manager, Elroy Pinto for all his hard work in making all this possible.
The full press release and statement from Hwanni can be seen HERE.
You can find Team Fnatic on Twitter and Facebook