Premier League Star Retires

Kyle ‘Hellshound’ Haward has decided to withdraw from the Summer Leg and possibly the rest of the year, following his loss to Travis ‘Shase’ Weedon due to other pressing commitments.

The two met in a Protoss vs. Terran (PvT) matchup that saw Weedon best Haward 2-0 on Saturday. It also marked the first time the two have met in the Do Gaming League (DGL) despite sharing the Premiere League last year.

“The first game was very back and forth until our armies clashed and he came out just ahead”, Haward says. “In the second game I went all in but he [Weedon] managed to hold me due to errors on my side.”

Haward had suggested prior to the match that he was considering retiring from the leg due to university commitments. Haward will be completing his third year of B.com Law at The University of the Western Cape (UWC) and this doesn’t allow for much preparation.

“My decision to leave was motivated by my performance last year. I lost a lot of interest and it showed. I was completely unprepared for the Do Gaming Championship (DGC) but still managed a top eight finish, all things considered” says Haward.

“At the beginning of this year I decided that I would focus on completing my degree and rAge always interferes with my preparations for my final exams. This led to my choice to retire from competitive play but hopefully only till next year”.

Haward experienced similar problems at last year’s DGC with preparations for his end-of-year exams taking their toll, as he was eliminated in the quarter-finals by eventual Champion, Radhe ‘MorningSTAR’ Stringer.

You can find the full DGC Hellshound interview here.

Haward has enjoyed marginal success in Starcraft 2, coming second at the 2011 DGV and has always been consistent at the top level of the competition. The loss however, sees Weedon kick off his 2013 campaign with a win. He will meet VnR|StatiC later this week.

You can find all the results from the weekend’s action here