Recently, athlete Cheerio (nickname Kong) posted a video on the TikTok platform, confirming that he directly played to replace female athlete Wasarin Naraphat (Tokyogurl) in a match at the congress.
According to the Thai Electronic Sports Federation (TESF), Tokyogurl used unauthorized third-party software, allowing someone else to log in remotely and control the competition.
The incident was discovered in the match where the Thai women's team lost to Vietnam 0-3 on December 15, 2025, leading to Tokyogurl being eliminated from SEA Games 33.
In the video, Cheerio admitted to the fraudulent act as reported by the press, and at the same time thought for a long time and decided to publicly apologize.
I accept all criticism and consequences, there is no excuse for this selfish act," Cheerio said.
Cheerio also said that speaking out late stemmed from excessive public pressure, making him confused and unable to face it. This confession was made nearly 3 weeks after the incident occurred. At the same time, Tokyogurl also posted a short status on his personal Facebook with the content: "I'm sorry".
TESF President Santih Lotthong said that the organizers discovered unusual signs right from the competition preparation stage when Tokyogurl arbitrarily operated the installation on the device. The referee recorded two accounts logging into the same application and saved all data as evidence.
According to Mr. Santih, only Tokyogurl was disciplined individually because other members did not participate in fraud, although the whole team then proactively asked to withdraw to show responsibility.
The incident has seriously affected the image of Thai esports. On December 18, Garena issued a ban on Tokyogurl from competing in all Arena of Valor tournaments, TALON terminated the contract, while RoV Esports applied a lifetime ban, closing one of the biggest scandals of Thai esports.
