Russian esports player Nikita “Daxak” Kuzmin has clarified remarks he made about Virtus.pro coach Kaniska Sam, known as BuLba. Kuzmin said he respects BuLba and values the coach’s contribution to the team, and that his earlier comments were taken out of context by some media and readers.
The following is published preserving the original speaker’s phrasing and punctuation as closely as possible.
“I don’t know what exactly the media pulled out of my words about BuLba that now everyone is writing to me as if I trashed him and so on. But there were positive things there too, and a lot of the negative parts—or just my thoughts about why things didn’t work out—were about myself as well. I want to finalize by saying that I consider BuLba an incredibly tryhard player, more than anyone else, but because of that he can be suffocating. And for some people that’s normal. Most likely for me too. It’s just that this was a period in my life when I didn’t cope and I broke down because of it. That doesn’t mean he is a bad coach or that he knows little about Dota. So I have a lot of respect for him, even considering how things turned out. He, like me (in this case twice as much), tried hard and wanted victory. All the best to everyone. So, both as a coach and as a person, I have respect for him.”
Earlier, Kuzmin had described BuLba as a “stifling” coach, saying BuLba is even more so than he is. That earlier characterization drew attention and prompted the clarifications above.