Sibol's Wild Rift team cops Philippines' 1st Cambodia SEA Games gold

MANILA, Philippines — Sibol's Wild Rift team secured Team Philippines' first esports gold in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia after besting defending champions Vietnam, 3-1.

In a repeat of the upper bracket finals match-up, it was Sibol who took a 2-0 this time around as Vietnam's team engages failed, giving the Filipinos the advantage. But an impatient Sibol side was punished by the Vietnamese in Game 3 as a team fight at the elder drake saw three champions down on the side of the Filipinos, giving Vietnam the chance to secure the game.

Not wanting to turn this into a series and give Vietnam a chance to complete a reverse sweep, Sibol — composed of Chammy “Chammy” Nazarrea, Justine “Juschie” Tan, Aaron "Aaron" Bingay, Golden Hart “DemonKite” Dajao and Reniel "Dr4w" Angara with coach Van "Vansu" Alfonso — started Game 4 aggressively as their strategy to split-push objectives and kills eventually led to the gold.

Speaking in a live post on Sibol’s Facebook page, Coach Alfonso thanked the team's fans for their support, saying it the team felt it even from afar.

"Thank you sa community, sobrang grabe yung effort [niyo] para suportahan kami and ramdam and ramdam namin yun," said Alfonso.

With Wild Rift having been the first esports event in the past two SEA Games, last year's Sibol squad had a disappointing start, finishing the group stage winless. This year, however, the team won all matches en route to the gold medal that might spell great things ahead for the entire Sibol contingent.

"[This first gold] helps set the tone for our entire SEA Games run. I’m pretty sure all our other athletes that are here or about to travel to Cambodia [are] hyped to bring the same pride and glory to the Philippines," said Sibol general manager Jab Escutin.

Besides the other members of SIBOL, Alfonso hopes that their victory will also inspire others as well as help change people’s perspective of esports.

"More than wanting to represent our country, more than wanting to compete, gusto talaga namin mag-inspire sa players out there na esports is a medal sports now, and that you can get something out of it. So I really hope na ma-inspire yung mga tao dito," said Alfonso.

Sibol will have two events in the next coming days — the Valorant event from May 8-10 and the Crossfire tournament from May 8-9.