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After serving out a six-month suspension issued by Riot Games, former professional Valorant player and streamer Jay “Sinatraa” Won has announced that he is ready to return to competitive play.
The ex-Sentinels player took to Twitter to make the announcement, also stating that he is ready to begin tryouts. However, it is unclear if his return would be a reunion with Sentinels.
“It’s been a year since I was forced to step back from competitive play. In that time, I have learned a lot about myself and grown as a person. I am now ready for a return to competitive play and will be starting tryouts this week,” he said.
When a fan asked where Sinatraa would prefer to restart his esports career, his response left no doubt: “First choice would be to return to Sentinels.”
Sinatraa will resume tryouts this week, as stated in his tweet. Although he missed the Valorant Champions Tour 2021, there is a chance he will feature this year, depending on the outcome of his tryouts.
The Sentinels failed to qualify for the VCT 2022 Reykjavik Masters after failing to defeat Version1 in Stage 1 Challengers Lower Bracket Round 1. V1 had the better form coming into the game and were favorites to win according to several esports betting sites.
The 22-year-old started his gaming career in 2016 but is new to Valorant. He chose to switch to Valorant in April 2020, citing “lost passions for the game” as his reason for leaving the Overwatch esports scene. However, he only played Valorant for a year before getting suspended.
During his days as an Overwatch player, Sinatraa displayed outstanding individual ability. Although he first played for Selfless Gaming, their disbandment a year after saw him join the San Francisco Shock of the Overwatch League (OWL).
In 2019, Sinatraa’s brilliance was at its peak as he helped the Shock win the 2019 OWL Grand Finals and was named the Most Valuable Player. He was also named an All-Star and awarded the Role Star commendation for DPS.
Later that year, he helped Team USA win the Overwatch World Cup and was also named the MVP of the tournament.
Why was Sinatraa banned for six months?
In March 2021, Sinatraa was accused of being abusive by his ex-girlfriend Cleo. She claimed she was subjected to mental and sexual abuse by the Valorant star.
Given the seriousness of the allegations and reported failure to cooperate with the investigation, the Valorant Competitive Operations Team opted to ban the player even before a full investigation was made.
In a statement, the Operations team said: “The Competitive Operations team had serious concerns with Sinatraa’s conduct during the course of the investigation. It was determined that on at least two occasions sinatraa misrepresented certain facts, made false statements, and did not cooperate with the investigation in a way expected of a professional Valorant esports player.”
Although Sinatraa was banned from participation, he has been streaming Valorant with friends on Twitch. Many wondered if he would take up streaming full-time, but the player has finally broken the silence.
