groove leaves Sports Director position in Gambit, focus on coaching!

Gambit Esports has announced that Konstantin “groove” Pikiner has stepped down as the organization’s sports director, a position he assumed in 2018 after stepping down as CEO.

According to the statement, the 39-year-old will shortly devote his time exclusively to coaching after spending the last year and a half supporting his CS:GO squad while also performing his management responsibilities.

For the last year and a half [groove] has devoted an enormous amount of time to coaching and shortly he will focus solely on it. The organization has got the experienced sport management team, which will continue operating smoothly.

Gambit Esports

The statement was released after ESL’s decision to exclude Gambit from the current ESL Pro League Season 15 due to “links to the Russian government”, and BLAST’s not to accept Russia-based teams to their tournaments in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

See also: BLAST denies invite to Russia-based CS:GO teams!

MTS, Russia’s largest telecommunications operator, owns Gambit, and the company’s ultimate owner, Vladimir Yevtushenko, a Russian tycoon featured on the ‘Putin list.

See also: ESL bans orgs with ties to Russian government from upcoming season

While the team competing now in Düsseldorf under a neutral name “Players”, still it is unclear whether the ban on Gambit as an organization applied to groove given his now-former position as the sporting director.