The open qualifiers for VALORANT Challengers 2024 Japan: Split 1 are set to begin shortly. The tournament is scheduled to start on January 22, but even before the kickoff, an announcement was made regarding the disqualification of one of the participants.

The team under the tag 2525Hamu was excluded from Group E, as reported by the official Twitter channel of VALORANT Challengers Japan. According to a post from a team member (who has since been removed), during the "RAGE" and Riot Games investigation, the activities of players Close and maydream were suspended. As a result, the team cannot continue its participation due to a lack of players.

This incident is unprecedented for the Japanese Valorant scene and marks the first incident of this nature. Unlike last year's rules, new points regarding "Player Investigation" in Section 3 have been added this year. The participation rights require players to provide information about their accounts used in the last three months. The tournament organizers' investigation revealed that the violation occurred during this period.

READ MORE: Night Market returns to valorant: event dates announced

It is worth noting that both disqualified players regularly stream on the Twitch platform, so this announcement has caused surprise. With the start of the current year, tournament organizers will have to take additional measures, as they have decided to use the "Premier" gaming system instead of open qualifiers.