After lighting up the 2023 VCT circuit, one of the youngest rising stars in the competitive VALORANT scene might be leaving. Paper Rex duelist Wang “Jinggg” Jing Jie is potentially parting ways with the organization at the end of the year, with Champions 2023 being his final event.
In an interview with Japanese gaming outlet Round Up Gamers, head coach Alexandre “alecks” Sallé said Jinggg will be stepping away from the roster once the year has concluded and he will not be playing professionally next year, according to machine translation. This is due to the 20-year-old’s upcoming mandatory military service in Singapore, where he must join for two years.
In a machine-translated quote, alecks said Paper Rex are a fun-loving, confident squad who understand losing will always be an unfortunate step to success. But ultimately, he still wants to win Champions for a multitude of reasons—including Jinggg’s impending retirement.
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“Even if you lose, it’s part of the game,” Alecks said in the interview, according to machine translation. “But the truth is, I want to bring back my first Champions trophy to the Pacific. Jinggg will be in the military next year, and this will be his last competition, so I want to lift the trophy with him.”
The young star has been one of the best players in the world, helping push Paper Rex to new heights across 2023. Whether it was through the Pacific League, Masters Tokyo, or at Champions, Jinggg has lit up the competition with fearless engagements and picturesque mechanical skills.
At Champions, for example, he currently leads his team with the highest average combat score and average damage per round, according to competitive VALORANT stats aggregate VLR.gg. At Masters Tokyo, he also had the third-highest ACS and ADR in the event as he and the rest of his squad finished in third place behind Evil Geniuses and Fnatic.
If Jinggg does end up retiring from professional VALORANT, it would be a massive loss for the global scene. Even though he hasn’t played in the league for too long, he has already shown an incredible amount of potential and star power that could light up the international scene for years to come.
