Just a few days after his retirement, Jinro spoke to ESFI World’s Emily Tran about some of the lighter moments of his career.
The first thing that strikes people about Jinro is his “regular guy” demeanour, and it was no different for Tran: “Jonathan was funny, he was down-to-earth.” Little wonder, then, that he was so willing to share some moments of levity from his pro gaming career, like the time Haypro delayed him in the airport for sharing his name with a terrorist. “The US customs told Hayder he shared a name with a suspected terrorist,” says Jinro. “When we arrived in Korea, customs held Hayder for like two hours."”
It seems that travel can be quite problematic for pro gamers, especially ones who travel through Turkey. “They had, funnily enough, moved the gate without telling anyone, to a different side of the (fairly big) room,” says Jinro. “We had to spend the night in Turkey --- couldn't be so bad, right?”
Well, going through customs was fine for me and MC ('Turkey and Korea are allies, no problem,' said MC), but Chris... Chris had to buy a temporary visa for some reason. And the ATM did not take his card. He asked me to bring him 100 dollars, so MC and I set off searching for an ATM on the correct side of the customs line. Opposite side of the airport, we found one, grabbed 100 dollars in Turkish currency and headed back. And we were told that they didn't actually accept Turkish money....in Turkey.
Of course, it all turned out okay. The players went onto create more stories to tell, both inside and outside of esports. For a few more, including why has a special amount of respect for the legendary Nada, head over to ESFI World
Links
ESFI World - Source
