France-Based Counter-Strike Pro Team Withdraws From Event After Paris Attacks

One of the top professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams in the world has pulled out of an upcoming event in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks. Team EnVyUs, based out of France, has issued a statement confirming it will not attend this weekend's Intel Extreme Masters event in San Jose, California in part because of travel concerns. The team is the defending champion of the event.

"It is with great sadness that we must report our CS:GO team will not be attending IEM in San Jose," the team said in a statement issued November 18. "As many of you know, our full team is French and the country is in a trying time. This morning as our players were beginning their travels, multiple airline threats and airplane diversions occurred. Simultaneously, additional threats and raids were carried out in Paris."

On November 18, authorities conducted raids in Paris suburbs, including a seven-hour raid in Saint-Denis. According to CBS News, two people were killed in this raid, including Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the alleged mastermind of the Friday night Paris attacks that left 129 people dead and many more injured.

Team EnVyUS added that, as a result of these raids and the aforementioned travel concerns, they decided it would be best to stay put.

"At that time, we decided that the safety of our team members was at risk and to cancel the team's appearance in San Jose," the statement added. "This brings great disappointment to our organization as we were looking forward to visiting the American fans and defending our IEM title. We'd like to thank ESL, IEM and our supporters for understanding. Our hearts and thoughts are with the people of France. May they be resilient in this trial they are faced with."

The 2015 IEM Masters takes place November 21-22 at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. More details about the event are available at its website.