Sept. 20 – Update – Tougeki releases apology to Team USA,Team Kuwait and Planet Zero.

10:47AM PST – Update – Statement from Planet Zero’s John Leigh explaining this misunderstanding.

It was an unfortunate mistake on Tougeki’s part.

PZ had 1 BBCS2 and 1 SF4AE spot confirmed.

TWFIGHTER (Hsien and Banana Ken) were reported as the winners on Aug 21st, 2011.

There were put in the bracket in the guide, and listed under the 10 foreign teams that qualified.

See pix:

SBO 2011 Guide:



SF4AE Bracket:



10 Foreign teams:



Giving Hsien Props:

TWFIGHTER played against team from Kuwait and lost.

I requested a meeting with the SBO guys and TWFIGHTER and asked both players to express themselves openly.

Hsien said he understood and accepted SBO’s apology. Jose said he wanted at least to be compensated for the trip. SBO said they had no protocol to compensate players monetarily.

I said in this case, PZ is going to do it.

SBO will also have a meeting about this matter and discuss various options to express how sorry they are. (it is a possibility for Jose to get a guaranteed spot for 2012, but this is not guaranteed yet)

SBO will post up a letter of apology by latest on Tuesday on tougeki.com

I feel terrible because my team did not have the greatest of experiences here in Japan but I did everything I could to handle it professionally and efficiently.

I understand mistakes can be made, especially when running a big event like SBO and it is not my intention to say anything negative about Tougeki. I have worked with them for many years and respect them.

9:53PM PST – Update according to Fubarduck –

Negotiations are over. Hsien/Banana Ken will fight the Kuwait team, winner gets into Top 32 bracket. Keep in mind, this is even though both teams are written into the SBO Final bracket on separate sides in the program guide. Planet Zero’s owner is here too, he was not aware of any problems. This was SBO’s fault for miscalculating the number of teams who qual’d.

—

According to a number of sources posting on twitter, the SBO qualified team of Hsien Chang and Banana Ken did not recieve SBO spots. The rumor (proven false) is that Planet Zero never had a qualifier spot for SBO at all, and the result is that Hsien and Banana Ken are going to have to play in the last chance qualifier against Iyo and Daigo to earn the last spot left in the tournament.

If true, this would be a sad turn of events. If Planet Zero didn’t have SBO spots, how did they get the SBO qualification kit, including the cards both players are seen holding in the photo below?

Sources

KIM1234 Twitter

Scandal alert: Chang and banana ken might not have spots at SBO. Apparently planet zero never had a spot.

Fubarduck Twitter

PZ strikes again. Hsien and Banana Ken are forced to fight Daigo/Iyo to get into the SBO bracket even though Hsien/Jose were qualified.

Justin Wong Twitter

Apparently Planet Zero gave false promises for SBO spots to Hsien and Banana Ken. Now they might have to beat Daigo and Iyo to play in SBO.

[photo via PZ Facebook