Team AoeXe to represent Russia at the Point Blank World Championship
As part of the Moscow International Week of Video Games, the LAN finals of the qualifiers for the Point Blank World Championship took place. The two strongest esports teams in Russia battled for the right to represent the country at the prestigious Point Blank International Championship 2026.
The grand prize was contested by two powerful teams with an impressive history of victories. Team AoeXe are two-time world champions and the current holders of the Point Blank League 2025 title. Their opponents, A3, are the champions of the Point Blank League 2023, consistently staying in the top 4 of the national qualifiers.
AoeXe's roster includes Vladimir "r1chhh" Lyashenko, Denis "Med1cine" Proskurin, Vitaly "FreeDjkee" Popov, Maxim "Raiden" Babushkin, and Kirill "yarchesolnca" Fedorov.
The A3 team is represented by Sergey "M1rage" Gavrilin, Nikita "Jett" Korsakov, Ruslan "Greshnik" Guliyev, Denis "re7ake" Belobotsky, and Dmitry "bldn" Mishakov.
In the grand finals of the qualifiers in Skolkovo, the teams fought on five maps: Villa, Haven, Midtown, Provence, and Palazzo. To win, they needed to secure victories on three of them. Each map became a test of skill, tactical thinking, and coordination of the players’ actions. The tournament concluded with AoeXe's victory on the fourth map.
"We were expecting to qualify for the Point Blank World Championship for the third year in a row — we stumbled twice in the finals, but this time we just came and took what was ours. In some ways, the result was influenced by the unexpected replacement of our leader Andrey w3z1k Ilyichev before the qualifiers — it made us work twice as hard, but each player's incredible form played its role. We are 50% ready for PBIC 2026 and will continue preparing in a couple of weeks. We will focus mainly on the tactical aspect: that is the most important thing at the World Championship," shared Vitaly "FreeDjkee" Popov, a player of Team AoeXe.
The Point Blank International Championship is an international tournament held since 2011. In 2025, it took place in Turkey, with a prize pool of