It appears that long-standing rivalry between foreign esports teams and Athletic VISA applications wages on.

As first reported on by OWBeacon (Chinese Overwatch fans reporting to a Western audience via Twitter), Chengdu Hunter DPS player Zhang "YangXiaoLong" Zhihao has had his VISA request denied while the rest of his team successfully entered the US without a problem. Former Miraculous Younger player and arguably one of the strongest players on the Chengdu Hunters team, it is a heavy blow to the Chinese esports organization.

In this post on the Chinese social media site, Weibo, the official Chengdu Hunters account posted photos of the team safely arriving in Los Angeles. They then followed up the picture posts with the following message about YangXiaoLong

有个消息要告诉大家，因为曾经有被拒签的遗留历史问题，大将阳小龙这次因拒签没能和第一批成员一同前往美国。我们已经联系了律师协助再次签证，请大家我们一起等待结果。

(I have a message to tell you that, because of the historical problem of visa refusal, *general YangXiaoLong has not been able to go to the United States with the first batch of members this time. We have contacted the lawyer to help with the re-visa. Please wait for the result together.)

* The use of the word general, as described by Inven Global's internal translator is best understood as "star player" or "strong player"

While it is still unknown why YangXiaoLong had his VISA denied, it is sadly common in esports for this to occur arbitrarily, often times with no clear reason why. Due to how long it can take for an Atheletic VIAthleticsecured, there is a real risk that Chengdu Hunters might have to start Overwatch League Season 2 without YangXiaoLong.

More on this story as it updates.