Sibol Tekken 7 player Alexendre "AK" Laverez fell short against Nopparut "Book" Hempamorn of Thailand and won the Philippines' first silver medal in the esports competitions of the 30th Southeast Asian Games at the Fil-Oil Flying V Center Tuesday.
The 18-year-old Laverez, known as the country's Tekken child prodigy, had to crawl out of the lower bracket and face fellow Filipino Andreij "Doujin" Albar, whom Book beat in the upper bracket final, for a shot at gold. AK defeated Doujin in the losers final to have a crack at the decorated Thai fighting games player.
Book opened the Akuma mirror match with a perfect performance, but AK quickly got him back in the rematch. After the next two fights ended up being split, the Pinoy fended off a rally from the Thai to take the lead.
The Thai started the following game with a pair of near-death comebacks, before stabilizing to complete the sweep. AK was able to tie the third set at two apiece, but he ultimately fell short to go down 2-1 in the series.
Despite going with his comfort pick Shaheen, the Pinoy barely won the deciding fight and Game 4 to force the matchpoint. Book proved the better Akuma player, unleashing combination after combination to close it out.
All in all, the national esports team Sibol collected three gold medals (Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Dota 2, StarCraft II) a silver, and a bronze (Tekken 7).
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