Galaxy Battles group stage delayed one day due to typhoon Merbok

Galaxy Battles was scheduled to commence tomorrow, June 14 however, the weather conditions in the central and eastern areas of China forced over 120 flights to be canceled and several train services to be suspended as well.

According to the Chinese National Meteorological Center, Typhoon Merbok made landfall in Shenzhen, yesterday morning with winds of 20 meters per second and heavy raining storms. Airport authorities from Shenzhen and Guangzhou, a port city in proximity of Shenzhen reported over 120 flights being canceled or delayed as well as the train services between the cities being either slowed down or suspended.

Two of the teams attending Galaxy Battles, Newbee and Mousesports and Braxton "Brax" Paulson, who is part of the broadcast team, are stuck in different airports and are expected to land in Shenzhen tomorrow, June 14 around mid-day, thus the tournament organizers decided to postpone the group stage matches for June 15.

The official tournament notice shared by the organizers with GosuGamers states the following:

Due to delay and lengthy travel times caused by the recent typhoon Merbok, the Galaxy Battles Dota 2 Tournament Group Stage will be postponed to 10am (local time), 15th June 2017. The natural disaster has resulted in grounded and delayed flights of which player welfare was taken into account. Hence, the decision to postpone the group stage.” - Galaxy Battles Management Team

The new schedule for the entire event, group stage plus playoffs will be released soon, so stay tuned for the latest updates from Shenzhen, China.