Image: Sibol Esports
Sibol Wild Rift has scored Philippines’ first gold medal at the 32nd SEA Games following a victory against Vietnam.
Sibol Wild Rift has secured a gold medal finish in the esports category at the 32nd SEA Games, after emerging victorious from a 3-1 game against Vietnam. Both teams competed in Wild Rift at the Nagaworld: Olympia Mall, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia this week.
Sibol Wild Rift’s team comprises Chammy Nazarrea, Golden Hard Dajao, Aaron Bingay, Justin Tan and Reniel Angara, all of whom scored their country’s gold medal after a rematch against Vietnam. The team originally went into the esports category with a triumphant 3-0 win against Singapore before going 3-2 against Vietnam in the upper bracket finals. Vietnam then won against Singapore in the lower bracket finals to earn a rematch against Sibol Wild Rift, only to once again be defeated.
The first game saw Sibol set a strong pace to follow for the rest of its upcoming matches, picking up kills and gaining the upper hand in a brawl against Vietnam at the 13-minute mark. That allowed the team to take the win in Game 1, a feat that it would repeat in Game 2 after quickly racking up a gold lead that granted it more map control and more objectives.
Game 3 saw Sibol stumble as Vietnam bounced back with a surprising win, coming out of teamfights victorious and scoring dragon kills the former team lost out on. Vietnam pushed into Sibol’s base with relative ease after a punishing match for the national team. Sibol clearly didn’t let this defeat get to them however, immediately going into the fourth game with kills in their pocket and an aggressive focus on objectives. The match ended within 19 minutes, with Sibol picking up enough objectives to march into the enemy base and take the win.
This is a big win for Sibol, considering 2022’s iteration of the team came out of the group stage in the esports category with zero wins. Sibol has two more events this week: a Crossfire tournament taking place from May 8 to May 9, and a Valorant event taking place from May 8 to May 10.
