By REYNALD MAGALLON
BANGKOK — Fresh from a gold and silver medal showing in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games, the Sibol National Team is immediately shifting its focus to the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan next year.
Although still months away from the Asiad, the Philippine Esports Organization is already mapping out the plans for the preparations in hopes of delivering more honor to the country.
“Next year is a really important year for us because it’s going to be our Asian Games run. We are preparing something very, very different. I think the fans can expect a different kind of SIBOL in terms of the strength that the team will bring to the Asian Games.” said Escutin.
A total of 11 titles have already been revealed to be in the roster for the esports events — one of which is the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang where the Nationals just completed a four-peat in the SEA Games with the Sibol men’s team.
Its women’s team, meanwhile, finished with a second straight silver.
“Generally, the results were better than we expected. Coming into this, I think we had realistic expectations,” said Escutin.
“To be honest, I think we’re really getting good at predicting the results of the teams that we are fielding. That also means that we have a better understanding of what we can improve on, what more we can prepare, and, of course, what more we can sustain so we can continue improving the results,” he added.
Besides the MLBB events, SIBOL also participated in the Men’s Division of Arena of Valor, finishing behind strong contenders Laos, Vietnam and Thailand while finishing second in the demonstration event of Magic Chess: Go Go.
In the Asiad, other titles to be played are Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, Honor of Kings, League of Legends, PUBG Mobile (Asian Games Version) Legends: Bang Bang, Pokémon Unite, Naraka: Bladepoint, Gran Turismo 7, eFootball, Puyo Puyo Champions, and Identity V.
