by Waylon Galvez
Top officials of esports are finalizing details of their qualifying tournaments that aims to form a competitive national team for the coming SEA Games which the country is hosting late this year.
Daren Vitug, a member of the Philippine SEA Games Esports Union, said yesterday that they are still in the process of completing the details of the qualifiers, which he said is open to all Filipinos even who are based abroad.
“We’re actually confident that we’ll have a very strong national team capable of contending for the medals – gold medals of course, that’s what we’re aiming for to contribute in the country’s bid to win overall championship,” said Vitug.
A total of five gold medals are at stake in the esports event of the SEA Games, and the games to be played include Dota 2 and Starcraft 2 on PC, Tekken 7 on PS4, and Mobile Legends and Arena of Valor on mobile phones.
Dota 2, Mobile Legends and Arena of Valor are all team events of 5-on-5, while Starcraft and Tekken 7 are individual divisions. Of the five, only Arena of Valor is not popular in the country and Vitug said it’s hard to win a medal in this particular game.
“These are the popular games in the country – Dota 2, Tekken 7 and Mobile Legends. With that, we’re expecting that we’ll contend… actually dominate the competition in the SEA Games because we have so many very good players in the country,” said Vitug.