The Philippines claim their second SEA Games medal of the tournament.
Team Philippines defeated Team Vietnam in the bronze medal match for VALORANT at the 32nd SEA Games, giving the nation its second medal in the esports category. This comes after the Philippines initially lost to Team Indonesia in the semifinals but managed to rally and come back to clinch the bronze.
The first map took us to Ascent with that being the Filipinos' only loss during the semis. It was even in the first four rounds with both teams winning two apiece. However, team Philippines started to kick things up a notch with eight straight wins in the first half along with three straight defuses.
Team Vietnam would go on to take only three rounds in the second half with two being defused. However, that was not enough after Team Philippines took the 15th round before following it up with back-to-back wins in the 17th and 18th rounds. Both teams won their pistol rounds as well as one of its three eco rounds apiece.
However, Team Philippines managed to get the most out of their economy, winning nine out of the 11 rounds they went full-buy while also winning two of their three semi-buy rounds. Team Vietnam was a lot more wasteful, winning only one of their five semi-buy rounds as well as three of their nine full-buy rounds.
Game two saw Haven come into play, which was a lot more even. Team Philippines won eight of the 12 first-half rounds but Vietnam wasn't far behind, having been able to somewhat keep themselves in contention for the second half. Vietnam was on the offensive and managed to win six rounds compared to the Philippines' five but it was not enough to secure them the medal.
When interviewed after their bronze medal match about what they will do once they get back to the Philippines, one of the players said, "Kumain ng sinigang."
