They went undefeated in the group stage before falling in the semifinals.
The Valorant team of SIBOL entered the Southeast Asian Games expecting to topple the competition and win gold. And they looked primed to do just that right off the bat, finishing with a 5-0 win-loss card in the group stages of the esports tournament in Cambodia.
On Wednesday morning, however, they fell at the hands of Indonesia in the semifinals, 2-0, to fall out of gold medal contention. This was the same team that the Filipinos dominated in the preliminaries, but the Indonesians turned the tables during the medal round.
“Ang ganda nung run namin ng group stage. We expect talaga na kaya namin kunin ‘yung gold,” said coach Jose “Rbtx” Jamir via the SIBOL Facebook page.
“Kaya lang ang pinaka-challenge talaga was to be consistent, to play to the highest levels. Siguro ‘yun ‘yung pinaka naging downfall namin in this tournament,” Jamir lamented.
The Filipino gamer-athletes seemed to have learned their lesson quickly. In the bronze medal match on Wednesday afternoon, the Philippine team swept Vietnam, 2-0, to clinch the third-place finish.
Bronze is not as sparkly as gold, and the SIBOL members’ body language spoke enough: they are burdened by the sting of missing out on the no. 1 spot. They vow to be better next time.
It seems they’re off to a good start as they already know what they need to fix.
“I think our only problem is ourselves. We lost confidence, we were scared to make a mistake—and that itself is a mistake already,” said Xavier “xavi8k” Juan, recalling their semifinals loss.
Juan’s teammate, George “Georggyyy” Lachica, agrees. He also pointed out a lesson he learned from their foes in the biennial meet.
“Stable ‘yung mentality nila, kami kasi nag-downfall ‘yung mental namin kaya natambakan kami. ‘Yun po ang aayusin namin next games,” said Lachica.
Brheyanne “Wild0reoo” Christ Reyes, on the other hand, made sure to underscore that they still are bringing home a medal, after all.
“Nakapag-uwi naman kami ng medal, so, sa tingin ko nag-work out. Sadyang kinulang lang,” explained Reyes, giving props to his team, which also included Jed “Drax” Jamir, Nathaniel “Nexi” Cabero, and Mark “Markyyy” Tuling.
“I’m proud of what our team did and what we’ve done,” added Juan.
A bronze medal is certainly a milestone, but the SIBOL Valorant squad is bent on bringing home gold in the next tourneys.