To commemorate Abay "HObbit" Khasenov's MVP award, we talked to the young Kazakhstani player to find out how he feels about what Gambit achieved at Jönköping and what is next for the CIS squad.

Gambit justified their title of a dark horse for DreamHack ZOWIE Open Winter 2016, winning the tournament by defeating teams such as Cloud9, GODSENT and finally Renegades in the grand final.

In the end, the MVP title went to the youngest player of the team, Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov, who edged out the team's AWPer Rustem "⁠mou⁠" Telepov. 

HObbit's great performances in the grand finals helped him get the MVP

In a short post-match interview, we heard his thoughts on the grand final, the team, and what the award means to him.

Let's just run through the finals shortly, it started on Nuke, Renegades pick. We didn't see you on the map yet. Did you feel confident in your Nuke?

Actually, we were practicing Nuke. I myself feel very nice on Nuke, I was ready on Nuke but I don't know about my team. We were thinking it was going to be 50-50, but we won it.

You moved on Cobble, that seems like your strongest map, do you feel that yourself?

In my opinion Cobble is our strongest map because we practice it a lot, and have a lot of strategies. Also, Zeus feels really good on Cobble, that's why it's our best map right now. He has good calls and that's why we won versus Renegades.

You won the MVP award for DreamHack ZOWIE Open Winter 2016 - how does it feel like since this is your first big tournament?

I'm in shock right now, I have no words. I was thinking it was going to be mou. He did a lot of important frags. Actually, this was my dream, to be an MVP of a big tournament. I don't know what to say, I have no words.

Going forward, what are your expectations from the upcoming period?

We have to prepare for the Major, we are now be going to a bootcamp and we will practice, train and keep working.

Professeur writes for HLTV.org and can be found on Twitter.

Abay 'HObbit' Khassenov Age: 22 Team: Gambit Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 131 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.67 GODSENT #17 Markus 'pronax' WallstenRobin 'flusha' RönnquistAndreas 'znajder' LindbergJesper 'JW' WecksellJonas 'Lekr0' Olofsson Rustem 'mou' Telepov Age: 25 Team: Gambit Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 524 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.67 Gambit #20 Dauren 'AdreN' KystaubayevDanylo 'Zeus' TeslenkoMihail 'Dosia' StolyarovRustem 'mou' TelepovAbay 'HObbit' Khassenov Renegades #25 Yaman 'yam' ErgenekonJustin 'jks' SavageAaron 'AZR' WardRicardo 'Rickeh' MulhollandKarlo 'USTILO' Pivac Cloud9 #6 Jordan 'n0thing' GilbertTyler 'Skadoodle' LathamMike 'shroud' GrzesiekTimothy 'autimatic' TaJake 'Stewie2K' Yip