THE SIBOL national team is ready to head to the SEA Games — and this time, it will be twice the size of the contingent it fielded at home when the first-ever esports medal events were held in the regional meet last 2019.
"For the official registration under Sibol and prior to the competition, it was already discussed as to how many athletes we will finalize for each event," said Philippine Esports Organization secretary general Joebert Yu in a message to Spin.ph,
The victory of Imperial Esports at the Arena of Valor qualifiers completed the national team lineup, which will vie for 10 medal events — three on PC (League of Legends, FIFA Online 4, and CrossFire), and seven on mobile (Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, League of Legends: Wild Rift men’s, League of Legends: Wild Rift women’s, PUBG Mobile individual, PUBG Mobile team, Arena of Valor, and Garena Free Fire).
Teams (and in the case of FIFA, individual athletes) earned a slot in the national team via a series of qualifiers that kicked off with the Mobile Legends tournament at the end of January.
Here are the teams and athletes that will fly the Philippine flag at Hanoi when the 31st Southeast Asian Games kick off on May 13.
Sibol at the 31st SEAG
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang — Blacklist International (7 athletes)
Wild Rift (men’s) — Looking for Adoption (6)
Wild Rift (women’s) — GrindSky Esports Eris (5)
PUBG Mobile — KHI Esports (5) and Zap Battlegroundz (5)
League of Legends — West Point Esports (5)
CrossFire — Pacific Macta (5)
FIFA Online 4 — Jorrel Aristorenas, Rad Novales, Aljhon Argete Cañas (3)
Free Fire — Rise National Esports (4) and God Ascends (4)
Arena of Valor — Imperial Esports (5)
The 54 athlete pool for esports is part of the tentative list of 656 athletes that the Philippine Olympic Committee has assembled for the SEA Games. If Sibol has doubled its contingent from its last at-bat, the Philippines overall is sending a delegation that’s about half the size it fielded as hosts of the 30th Southeast Asian Games.
On March 1, Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino tempered expectations that Team PH would repeat its stunning feat from 2019, where we scored 149 gold, 117 silver, and 121 bronze medals under the “we win as one” mantra.
“Comparing the numbers when we hosted the Games in 2019, we’ll have a delegation that’s slashed almost in half from three years ago. And a quick look at the numbers show we’ll be hard-pressed to repeat as overall champions,” he said.
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