THE back-and-forth backlash in the MLBB community caused by John Paul “H2wo” Salonga’s hospitalization has forced the Sibol national team to officially release a statement regarding their decision to give Blacklist the automatic 1-0 lead.
The organization immediately gave a detailed account of what exactly happened.
“At the very start of the match, at 11:00AM GMT+8, Nexplay EVOS informed Sibol League Ops that NXPE player H2wo was suffering from a severe stomach condition which necessitated seeking emergency medical attention and was rushed to the nearest hospital.”

This sudden event kicked off a frenzy of communication between the two teams facing off in the national team qualifiers series, which Blacklist eventually won 3-0.
“This complex and unprecedented situation caused a significant overload of communication as Sibol League Ops scrambled to coordinate with NXPE regarding H2wo’s status as well as inform the opposing team, Blacklist International of the situation," continued the statement.
Sibol penalizes Nexplay as incomplete roster fails to make 15-minute grace period
Due to the nature of the situation, a long delay took place. Since Nexplay couldn’t fulfill their end of the bargain where they must complete their roster within 15 minutes, Sibol penalized the team.
“Normally, under the Official Rulebook of Sibol MLBB policies on Punctuality, any team’s failure to attend or complete its members within 15 minutes of the scheduled match time may result in a complete disqualification at the discretion of Sibol officials,” explained the organization.
But due to the concerns about H2wo’s health, Sibol decided to tone down their punishment.
“However, understanding that the reason for the delay concerns the health of an individual, Sibol Management chose to show leniency by softening the sanction prescribed by the Official Rulebook to a simple one (1) game penalty instead of a full-on disqualification.”
They then revealed that there was a delay in terms of their communication as their decision was only revealed when the teams were about to face off.
“Unfortunately, due to the delay of communication, the ruling was relayed to the NXPE and BLCK just as they were about to begin their rescheduled match at around 11:40 GMT+8. This understandably caused a lot of confusion and disappointment to all the parties involved and for that we sincerely apologize.”
Realizing what happened, the organization promised to provide more transparency with regards to their policies: “Moving forward we resolve to have clearer policies and contingencies in place for situations like this to avoid confusion among the parties involved, upholding Sibol’s values of fairness and sportsmanship and most importantly, putting the health of any individual we interact with at the highest priority.”
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