League of Legends: Uzi Announces Retirement From Competitive Play
| Tags: League of Legends
| Author David Hollingsworth
Legendary Chinese ADC Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao has officially announced his retirement from competitive League of Legends.
The news was revealed via the Chinese social media site Weibo.
Uzi has had a long and successful career in China since 2012. He's spent nearly his entire career with Royal Never Give Up — and will undoubtedly go down in history as an icon of the RNG side.
With two LPL titles under his belt, an MSI trophy and a series of Worlds Final runs, Uzi has created a legacy in his time in the game. And it's one fans will remember for many years to come.
“As of today, Uzi will officially retire. Uzi was not only the heart and soul of RNG, but an icon in the esports world as a whole. From a teenager onwards he never gave up and worked as hard as he could to be the best he could in his role, he inspired many.” said RNG in a thread on Twitter.
Underlying health issues a key factor
Rumors first circulated that Uzi was leaving RNG a few weeks ago, when he wasn’t included in the sides LPL Summer Split roster. He also removed the RNG from his League of Legends username. With the official news, however, we now know that the key factor in Uzi’s decision is underlying health reasons sustained over his eight-year career. Uzi first seriously considered retirement back in 2015, when a shoulder injury looked set to cut his career short.
His injuries and the subsequent delays were also impacted by type 2 diabetes. As he explains in his Weibo post, his original hand injury was made worse thanks to diabetes. Ultimately bringing him to the decision we see today.
Over on English Twitter, Uzi left it short and sweet with a simple message.
Uzi out ('-')7
— 简自豪 “Uzi” (@UziQ4Q) June 3, 2020
Uzi retires as a legend, a trendsetter, and someone that struck fear into his opposing bot lane. Most importantly of all, Uzi leaves a legacy of being one of esports good guys. As well as someone with a level of dedication and professionalism any aspiring professional player could aim to be like.
David has written for games media outlets for the last ten years. With his first major esports role being with Esports News UK covering mostly UK League of Legends. David is also a member of the British Esports Association and is an advisor to them on World of Warcraft Esports. More recently David has worked for Esports Insider and Red Bull as an esports journalist.
David later became Editor at ESTNN and now leads the current team.