Rumor: League of Legends player Chawy to jump from Singapore Sentinels to a Taipei team?

League of Legends team Singapore Sentinels is rumored to be losing mid player Wong ‘Chawy’ Xinglei to either the Taipei Assassins or the Taipei Snipers.

A source told us that Chawy is currently in Taiwan negotiating the deal. This source received the information from a Challenger-tier player, and said that he could not name the informant or it would be “too obvious”. The rumors apparently surfaced about a month ago.

Chawy has also said in an interview late last year that he would join an NA or EU team if asked.

A thread has also popped out on r/lol, albeit a lonely one.

Posts currently available on Chawy’s social media seem to confirm this. Chawy posted via Instagram yesterday a photo of his girlfriend, captioned “can’t wait to be back with this girl”, while a post made on April 14, 2014 asked if, under Singapore law, he should notify the Central Manpower Bureau of an impending year-long overseas trip at six month intervals, or if he should simply apply for an exit permit.

All Singaporean men who have completed or are currently doing National Service have to notify the country if they are going overseas for an extended period of time. Exit permits are required for longer absences out of the country, such as going overseas for university study, and Singapore is not yet known for recognizing eSports as a legitimate career (or excuse).

To date, the only leaves of absence for full-time National Servicemen attending eSports competitions have been granted via appeal letters submitted by the Singapore Cybersports and Online Gaming Association. There have been no records of exit permits being granted exclusively for an eSports career.

What do you think? Is Chawy going to make the jump? There is little growth for his career in Singapore, a country with only one professional League of Legends team, and I would not be surprised if he does.

Disclaimer: This writer worked with the Singapore Cybersports and Online Gaming Association in 2010.

(h/t to our helpful source)