Mission Accomplished

The national Esports squad expressed gratitude to various Esports organizations for their support during the 32nd Southeast Asian Games.

Sibol head coach Ralph "Leathergoods" Llabres said their impressive performance will not be possible if Esports organizations didn't allow their best players to compete in the prestigious biennial meet that came to a close last week at the Morodok Techo National Stadium in Phnom Penh in Cambodia.

The Philippines had a strong performance in Esports as it finished third behind powerhouse Indonesia and host Cambodia with two gold, one silver and three bronze medals.

The Filipino gamers reigned supreme in League of Legends: Wildrift and men's Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.

Composing the Wild Rift squad are athletes from Nigma Galaxy in Chammy "Chammy" Nazarea, Golden "Demonkite" Hart Dajao, Aaron "Aaron" Bingay, Justin "Juschie" Tan and Reniel "Dr4w" Angara.

In men's MLBB, it was Bren Esports which represented the country with David "FlapTzy" Canon, Michael "KyleTzy" Sayson, Angelo "Pheww" Arcangel, Marco "SUPER MARCO" Requitano, Rowgien "Owgwen" Unigo and Nowee "Ryota" Macasa as players.

Llabres said the gold medals would not be possible if not for the sacrifices of Nigma Galaxy, Bren Esports and other organizations who allowed their players to see action.

"We still have to pay homage to the commercial teams where these players came from and how they were trained," Llabres told Daily Tribune in an interview.

"We gave added support, did our part, pushed them and kept them motivated on the ground."

Aside from the Wild Rift and men's MLBB, the national gamers plucked the silver medal in women's MLBB and bronze medals in the individual event of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Mobile, Valorant and Crossfire.

Llabres said it was a mission accomplished for them and for the Philippine Esports Organization — the national governing body of Esports in the Philippines.

"We are happy. Every year, I am pressured by the executives to tell them how many medals we are going to win," Llabres said, adding that their performance is a vast improvement from their four-medal finish in the previous biennial meet in Hanoi.

"Last time, we had a 70 percent win rate. This time, we did not win in just one category. We were able to hit our target. We have proven that the Filipinos are really good at Esports."