The 30th Southeast Asian Games made waves late last year when it was confirmed to be the first-ever SEA games to include e-sports as a official regional sporting event. Filipinos were especially thrilled given the competitive gaming culture in the country. Hopefully, that excitement spills over to supporting the 27 e-sports athletes the Philippines is sending to compete in the games which will be held inside the country this year.
These 27 e-sports athletes were selected from a training pool of 77 athletes. They specially qualified to take pride as part of the Philippine’s official e-sports team, Sibol.
Handout photo
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Sibol will be divided into 6 smaller groups, categorized by the game they will be competing in. The team-based games will have squads of 7 players while the rest will have 2 players each.
Dota2‘s squad consists of Mc Nicholson ‘Mc’ Villanueva, John Anthony ‘Natsumi’ Vargas, Jun ‘Bok’ Kanehara , Marvin Salvador ‘Boomy’ Rushton , Bryle Jacob ‘CML’ Alvizo, Van Jerico ‘Van’ Manalaysay, and James Erice ‘Erice’ Guerra.
Arena of Valor‘s players include Kevin Kio ‘Gambit’ Dizon , Jeremiah ‘1717’ Camarillo, Jevan Lorenzo ‘Bents’ Delos Santos, Lawrence Anthony ‘Rubixx’ Gatmaitan, Miguel Klarenz ‘Miggie’ Banaag, Bradie Ryan ‘Yats’ Velasquez , and Kyle Jepherson ‘Vindiicated’ Padlan.
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang will be played by Kenneth Jiane ‘Kenji’ Villa, Karl Gabriel ‘KarlTzy’ Nepomuceno, Carlito ‘Ribo’ Ribo, Jeniel ‘Haze’ Bata-anon, Angelo Kyle ‘Pheww’ Arcangel, Allan Sancio ‘Lusty’ Castromayor, and Jason Rafael ‘Jay’ Torculas.
Representing the Philippines in StarCraft II are Justin ‘NuksPH’ Santos and Caviar ‘Enderr’ Acampado. Dustin ‘WaningMoon’ Mangulabnan and Jacinta ‘Jia’ Dee will be the squad for Hearthstone. While Andreij Hosea ‘Doujin’ Albar and Alexandre Gabrielle ‘AK’ Laverez will be competing in Tekken 7 .
Smart Communications president Alfredo Panlilio, a sponsor of Sibol, announced that “the athletes of Sibol are not just pioneers, they are our country’s pride.”
What do you think about this?
