Not known to many, the real battle had already begun for Sanford Vinuya even before he stepped foot on the M4 World Championship stage.
Days before the 16-year-old EXP laner flew to Jakarta, Indonesia with the rest of the ECHO contingent, disaster struck his family as his father, Archev Vinuya, suffered from a stroke.
“Actually nakauwi na po siya sa bahay, nagre-recover na lang po siya pero okay na po. Medication na lang po,” Sanford said in an exclusive interview with Tiebreaker Times, just hours after he made his M-series debut on Monday night.
This was not the first time that Sanford had to deal with this kind of situation in his young career.
Back in the regular season of the MPL Philippines Season 10, his uncle was also hospitalized for the same reason while his grandfather also battled a sickness of his own. That, however, did not stop the up-and-coming EXP laner from putting on a show as he led ECHO to a huge win over Blacklist International at the time.
Just like what he did back then, Sanford did not let the situation get to him and instead used it as motivation. The former Nexplay EVOS standout put the clamps on RRQ Hoshi EXP laner Rivaldi “R7” Fatah’s Benedetta and steered his side to an 18-7 win in 18 minutes and 37 seconds of action.
He ended up with two kills, two deaths, and 11 assists on Yu Zhong to help ECHO take the early 1-0 advantage in Group C.
“Ginagawa ko pong inspiration yung tatay ko para maging proud po siya sa akin, para makita niya rin po na maganda yung kinakalabasan (ng ginagawa ko) kasi sabi niya po sa akin gusto niya raw po manalo po kami ngayong M4. Sinasabi niya sa akin bago siya mag-kasakit,” said Sanford.
“Hindi naman po (ako naapektuhan) kasi palagay naman po ako na okay na po siya tapos parang lalo po akong ginanahan kasi nanonood po siya tapos ganon nga po yung nangyari. Lalo po akong ginanahan kanina, gusto kong ipakita na para sa kaniya ‘tong larong ‘to,” he continued.
Sanford said that he is dedicating his campaign in the M-series to his father.
“Sabi niya lang po na mag-focus po ako at ipanalo ko raw po yung M4. Iniisip ko na lang po na para sa kanila po ‘tong lahat ng ginagawa ko,” said Sanford.
