Dmitry "⁠hooch⁠" Bogdanov will be Team Russia's fifth player at the country's WESG qualifier instead of Denis "⁠electronic⁠" Sharipov, HLTV.org has learned.

The Natus Vincere prodigy is unable to attend the event due to personal issues, which means that the Russian mix will be without its most in-form player, who has averaged a 1.21 rating on LAN in 2018.

This is not the first time that hooch has found himself standing in for the team. In March, he replaced Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev at the main WESG event, helping the team to collect a $150,000 cheque as they placed top three in Haikou, China.

hooch will play for Team Russia once again

The WESG Russia Finals will take place on October 6 at the IgroMir Exhibition, in Moscow, with Team Russia and forZe - the winner of the closed qualifier - set to duke it out for the spot at the main event.

This means that Team Russia, who will compete at the event under the name Russia.GGBET, will field the following line-up:

Note: An earlier version of the article incorrectly mentioned that electronic would not be able to attend the event due to sponsorship obligations.