YangXiaoLong , DPS player for the Chengdu Hunters Chengdu Hunters OWL Rank #13 Mmonk Zhou Xiang (周翔) flex support Daizi Ni Yuandong (倪远东) off tank Jinmu Yi Hu (易虎) dps Leave Huang Xin (黄馨) dps GA9A Qiu Jiaxin (仇佳鑫) tank Nisha Tan Li (谭力) support , will not be arriving in Los Angeles alongside the rest of his teammates due to delays in his visa process. The team is currently working to address the issues so he can join his teammates as soon as possible.
It's true, YangXiaoLong's trip to L.A. has been delayed due to visa issues that are being addressed immediately.
— Chengdu Hunters (@ChengduHunters) January 24, 2019
Don't panic, they just needed him at Beacon Academy a little bit longer. He'll join us in Los Angeles as soon as possible! 🧡 pic.twitter.com/rCM6yTaGOd
This is not the first issue related to player visas in the history of Chinese Overwatch or the Overwatch League.
The 2017 Chinese World Cup team lost four of its original six players to visa troubles just before they were set to compete in the Blizzcon finals. The new roster, which had less time together than the World Cup's other rosters, was eliminated in Blizzcon's first round.
The Philadelphia Fusion missed the inaugural Overwatch League preseason entirely due to what the team called "logistics issues." These "logistics issues" were likely caused by difficulties getting players from nine different countries into the United States in time for the preseason, which started a month before last year's regular season.
Neither instance was the first case of visas causing troubles for professional Overwatch players. There have been players who have had their visas delayed or have been blocked from competing entirely as early as January of 2017 when Nomy was unable to play alongside his Immortals teammates at the NGE LAN.
Visa issues have occurred at events hosted outside the United States, as well. The 2017 Russian World Cup team couldn't bring two of their players to the group stage in Poland.
Blizzard will have to factor in visa logistics as the Overwatch League is set to leave the Blizzard Arena soon and teams begin testing the waters of hosting matches at their own arenas. The 20 teams currently in the Overwatch League are based in six different countries: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, China and Korea.
Visas are not the only concern of YangXiaoLong, however. A Weibo photo showed his name was too long to fit on his jersey. It read "YangXiaoLo" instead.
if you were wondering about @ChengduHunters's YangXiaoLong, im sad to inform you that not only does he have visa issues, but he also has jersey issues too
— sgbros1 (@sgbros1_OW) January 27, 2019
his name is too long to fit on a jersey
from https://t.co/HUUmGBVRLG pic.twitter.com/DY7Yj8wa0l