MANILA, Philippines — It was a rollercoaster weekend for fans of the country's national esports team Sibol as it competed in three events at the 14th World Esports Championship of the International Esports Federation in Bali, Indonesia.
Sibol’s Dota 2 squad appeared to be the team to beat in Group B with a dominant start against Venezuela, 54-13. It went on to win against Nepal, New Zealand and Costa Rica but eventually fell to Group B leader Myanmar after an almost 43 minute match, 29-48.
The team moved on to the single elimination round after finishing the group stages in second place with 12 points and a 4-1 win-loss record in Group B. The round kicked off immediately with Sibol facing Group A survivor Uzbekistan in a best of three single-elimination clash.
Sibol tool the opener but Uzbekistan did not go down without a fight, forcing a do-or-die match for a top eight spot. In the end, the Filipino gamers survived, 2-1, for the right to face Australia in the next round.
Meanwhile, the country's Mobile Legends roster saw an early defeat at the hands of host country Indonesia, 0-2, which dropped them to the lower bracket. The team managed to turn the day around with a 2-0 sweep of Slovenia thanks to the heroics of Kiel "Oheb" Soriano and Salic "Hadji" Imam. Both players scored the most kills and did not concede a single death in both games. They will continue their journey in the lower brackets on Tuesday.
For his part, 2017 IESF Tekken champion Andreij "Doujin" Albar had a rocky start as he suffered 0-2 sweep against Ivory Coast and a 1-2 defeat to Poland on the first day of the group stages. He managed to bounce back with back-to-back 2-0 sweeps against Colombia and Laos, but it was not enough to proceed to the next round. Albar bowed out of the tournament after finishing Group C in third place with a 2-2 win-loss record at six points.
SIBOL's Dota 2 roster will face Australia today while the MLBB team will be take on the winner of the Indonesia-Argentina duel on December 6.