Sibol Men’s ML sustained the country’s supremacy in the region after securing the gold medal against Malaysia, 3-0, in the grand finals of the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia on Sunday.
The Philippines has won all gold medals in the biennial event that was introduced in 2019. Midlaner Angelo Arcangel also secured his second gold medal in the event after competing in the inaugural staging held in the Philippines.
“Sobrang saya na nakuha ko yung gold medal. Kasi ano eh, ako lang yung sa MLBB na may 2x gold medal (sa SEA Games),” said Arcangel.
Game 1 boiled down to a 25th-minute lord dance where Marco Requitiano (Karrie) took two kills to lead a 3-0 wipe as the Philippines averted a collapse after leading by as much as 10k on the net worth to take the opener, 1-0.
It was a similar story in Game 2 as Sibol dictated the tempo from the get-go led by Kyle Sayson (Lancelot), who was boasting a perfect 3-0-5 KDA by the 16th minute.
Malaysia though managed to hold on and it took Sibol the 4th lord of the match to finally reach match point by the 21st minute.
Sibol then unveiled their iconic Helcurt pick in Game 3 as Sayson rampaged through their Malaysian rivals, finishing with an unblemished 6-0-7 KDA to lead the Philippines’ 21-6 conquest on the kill score.
Requitiano (Harith) also added an immaculate 7-0-5 KDA in the close-out win.
“The boys just brought their A-game to the match,” said head coach Francis Glindro who also took home his first SEA Games gold after almost getting the Sibol head coaching stint in 2021.
Completing the Sibol squad are semi-finals hero David Canon, MPL Philippines Season 10 MVP Rowgien Unigo, and reserve Nowee Macasa.
This is the Philippines’ 42nd gold of the games and second in esports after the Wild Rift squad.
