History has been made! SIBOL, the PH national esports team, has just won its first gold medal in the 30th SEA Games Esports event. Specifically, the SIBOL Mobile Legends squad has brought home gold with a 3-2 win over Team Indonesia in the ML:BB Finals.
The SIBOL ML team’s journey started in the Group Stage last December 6 where they ended up in 2nd place, just behind their eventual Finals opponents, Team Indonesia. With their placement, the PH squad secured themselves a spot in the playoffs.
In the playoffs, team PH faced off against Team Vietnam. The series was over in a flash as SIBOL took the series 2-0. Team PH’s next series against Malaysia also went the same way, with SIBOL winning the series 2-0 to secure a Finals series against Team Indonesia.
In Game 1 of the Finals, Indonesia were in full control; but key plays by the Philippines’ Kenneth Jiane Villa turned the game around to give SIBOL the win.
Indonesia bounced back in games 2 and 3 as they dominated the PH to get a 2-1 series lead. The Philippine team rallied in game 4 though, tying up the series 2-2 to set up a game 5 decider.
Team PH started off game 5 strong, quickly winning multiple engagements. SIBOL’s strong start gave them control of the game, which they never relinquished, winning the deciding game 5 in decisive fashion.
With their win, SIBOL Mobile Legends has made history as the first esports gold medalists; after all, the 30th SEA Games is the first major sporting event where esports is a medal sport.
The SEA Games esports event continues today with the Finals for Arena of Valor, Dota 2, and Hearthstone. The event concludes tomorrow with the Finals of Starcraft 2 and Tekken 7. You can catch the games live at the SIBOL Facebook page, or at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan, Metro Manila. Entrance to the venue is free!