Vietnam swept them in the last SEA Games. This time around, they got their payback.
Golden Hart Dajao, Chammy Nazarea, Aaron Bingay, Justine Tan, Reniel Angara, and Gerral Gelacio of the SIBOL Wild Rift team all had their eyes on one thing: the Southeast Asian Games gold medal.
On Sunday night in Cambodia, they had the chance to win the gold—and against Vietnam no less, the same squad that defeated them via sweep and handed them the silver medal in the League of Legends: Wild Rift esports event at the 2021 SEA Games.
“Last year, after securing the silver medal, feel ko may unfinished business pa ako sa SEA Games,” team coach Van Alfonso admitted to One Sports, giving a peek on how they badly wanted to win in this edition of the biennial meet.
They already faced Vietnam in this year's edition of the tournament, and were given a serious scare. They found themselves down 2-0 and on the brink of defeat at the upper bracket finals, but the Filipino pro gamers turned the game around to win, 3-2, with a thrilling reverse sweep performance.
In hindsight, those three consecutive winning games actually seemed like a prelude of the grand finals, as SIBOL showed its might against the Vietnamese squad in the gold medal match.
SIBOL won the first two games convincingly, but dropped the third as Vietnam refused to go down without a fight. But come the fourth game, it was clear who the better team was.
As netizen @SnowFallSlasher tweeted, it was like a master chef finally delivering his masterpiece of a dish.
@chicha_rh0n relishes the victory against the previous gold medalists. Lakad matatag, indeed.
Dajao, who has showed excellent play throughout the regional meet, deservedly earned the Finals MVP award.
To him, it was only poetic to exact revenge against Vietnam, but to also have a strong tournament overall.
“Siyempre honored and proud kasi last year literal na wala kaming panalo kahit isa,” said Dajao, who also tipped his hat to his teammates for the impressive run.
“Sobrang proud ako and sobrang saya ko na naka-team ko ‘tong mga ‘to.”
As for Coach Van, he’s just glad that their unfinished business is now settled.
“Of course, extremely happy and grateful.”