Thai esports pro admits to playing for his girlfriend after she’s disqualified for cheating

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After weeks of speculation, the details surrounding Thailand’s women’s Arena of Valor team’s withdrawal from the SEA Games due to a cheating controversy have been revealed.

Thailand lost to Vietnam 3-0 in the Arena of Valor upper bracket final at the 33rd SEA Games on December 15th. Following the match, the Thailand Esports Federation announced that player Warasin Naraphat, also known as Tokyogurl, was disqualified for breaking the competition’s rules.

Naraphat violated the rules of the Esports competition by using prohibited software during a match. Following an investigation by the SEA Games organizers, he was disqualified – the harshest penalty allowed in the tournament.

Even though Thailand was winning against Laos 1–0 in the final qualifying match on December 16th and still had a chance to compete for the gold medal, the national sports federation unexpectedly pulled the entire women’s team out of the tournament.

Okay, so when this all came up, Tokyogurl totally said she didn’t do anything wrong. She insisted she played the match herself, but admitted she got really flustered during the game, started feeling sick, and actually ended up needing to go to the hospital after. It was a pretty crazy situation.

That narrative collapsed on January 2.

Thai esports player confesses to playing for Tokyogurl

Thai esports player Cheerio, who is also known as Kong and the boyfriend of Tokyogurl, confessed in a TikTok video that he impersonated her during a competition. He admitted his actions were selfish, took complete blame, and apologized to fans, tournament organizers, and the teammates who were unable to play because of it.

I want to address the concerns about past competitions, like the SEA Games, where people suspected someone was impersonating players during matches. I confirm that these suspicions were correct.

Cheerio said the strong negative reaction made him hesitate, and that’s why he didn’t say anything for over two weeks after the game.

I never meant for things to turn out this way and I’m sorry to have let people down. I take full responsibility for what happened and will accept any criticism and consequences without making excuses.

Before this happened, Cheerio was a well-regarded figure in Thai esports, which makes his admission of guilt particularly impactful, according to Baomoi.

Esports cheaters face legal consequences

Garena has banned Tokyogurl from competing in Arena of Valor tournaments beginning December 16, 2025. As a result, her team, TALON, ended her contract, and RoV Esports permanently barred her from all future events.

The punishments mark one of the most severe scandals in the history of Thai esports.

It wasn’t until Cheerio admitted what she did that Tokyogurl took responsibility. The next day, she posted a short apology on Facebook, just saying, “I’m sorry.”

Santi Lothong, who leads both the Asian Electronic Sports Federation and the Esports Sports Association of Thailand, is said to be taking legal action against those involved and intends to fully pursue the case.

This is just the latest in a long line of esports cheating controversies.

Last year, Counter-Strike 2 pro Joel Holmlund was permanently banned from competition. The ban followed the discovery of cheating software on his computer, and was made worse by threats he made towards the organization responsible for maintaining fair play in esports.

The impact has even reached beyond typical esports. In April 2025, streamer DrLupo was removed from a $100,000 chess tournament called PogChamps after breaking the rules on Chess.com. He eventually admitted to the violation, bringing the controversy to a close.

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2026-01-08 22:20