Melany M. July 13, 2018
Reigning Mid Season Invitational champion Jian "Uzi" Zi-Hao is taking a break from gaming, Royal Never Give Up announced through social media.
The 21-year-old AD carry is taking some time off after 6 years as a professional player to recover from an injury. Uzi has been struggling with excruciating pain in his shoulder and back since 2015. The injury was significant enough that Uzi considered retirement, saying “I have excruciating shoulder pain. Whenever I play games it hurts like it's exploding.”
According to RNG’s medical advisor, the injury was caused by Uzi’s bad posture and it remains an ongoing problem for the player.
Uzi is leaving the stage in the middle of the best year of his career. In April, Uzi won the LPL Spring Split with RNG, the first major title in his career. As spring champions, RNG went to represent the LPL in the Mid-Season Invitational in Berlin, Germany. RNG won the title there after defeating the LCK’s KINGZONE DragonX.
This international success continued into Rift Rivals. The LPL squad finished the group stage withs six wins and two loses. In the final, the four LPL representatives faced the LCK teams and came out victorious after five games.
After returning to China for the Summer Split, RNG is out to a hot start with seven wins to only one loss.
RNG has assured fans of the team that the hiatus won’t be overly long. Uzi is taking time off in order to recover as much as possible before returning to competitive play.
RNG is considered by many experts to be the best League of Legends team in the world today and a clear favorite for this year’s World Championship. By taking Uzi off the roster, RNG is making sure they have their best player ready for the final international event of the year in South Korea.