Fierce Tiger have been disqualified from the Chinese qualifier for the Asia Minor after it was revealed that they fielded a player connected to a VAC-banned account.

An investigation launched by FACEIT uncovered a connection between the mysterious "tbgirl", Fierce Tiger's fifth player in the qualifier, and a Steam account with a VAC ban, though it did not confirm whether the account in question belonged to Kun "⁠LEo⁠" Hou, the team's player who had recently been banned.

FACEIT explains that it used data from its own platform to determine a connection between the accounts and that it also reached out to Valve, who confirmed the findings.

Savage's team disqualified from the qualifier

ROAR, who had lost to Fierce Tiger in the semi-finals of the qualifier, will progress to the final to face VG.Flash, with the winner qualifying for the Minor.

This is the second tournament that Fierce Tiger are disqualified from in the space of days. Last week, the Chinese team, who have in their ranks former wNv and TyLoo player Bin "⁠Savage⁠" Liu, were disqualified from the CS:GO Asia Championships following a VAC ban handed to LEo.

Just days later, Fierce Tiger qualified for the Asia Minor with a forfeit win over VG.Flash, who could not show up for the final due to internet issues.

But with VG.Flash insisting that their internet had been sabotaged, FACEIT ruled that the match had to be replayed. The decision was immediately contested by Fierce Tiger, who claimed that their players had gone on holiday after qualifying for the Minor.

FACEIT adds that it is "currently working" with both VG.Flash and ROAR to schedule the match, which should take place in the coming days.