SIBOL rises as overall champs in IESF '23

Photo from SIBOL

by Drew Malihan

IAŞI, Romania - SIBOL, the Philippines national esports team, emerges as the top nation out of 111 countries during the closing ceremonies of IESF World Esports Championships 2023 on Sunday.

The Filipino delegation went home with two medals in four of seven events that they have participated, getting the gold in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and a silver in Tekken 7.

The Mobile Legends team, composed of AP Bren and GameLab players, trampled defending champions Indonesia three games to one, while Alexandre "AK" Laverez of Playbook Esports dominated every opponent he faced until bowing down to Pakistan's Atif "Atif Butt" Ijaz.

The Dota2 team, composed of players from Polaris Esports, were eliminated in the group stage after a three-way tie with Ukraine and eventual runners-up Myanmar.

The PUBG Mobile team, composed of players from GameLab and Playbook Esports, finished 11th out of 16 national teams with 71 points, including a Winner Winner Chicken Dinner in round 10 of 18 at Erangel.

Kyrgyzstan was the only other country aside from the Philippines to take home two medals, with a gold in PUBG Mobile and a bronze in Dota 2.

Iran took home the gold in eFootball 23 after a 3-0 win against Japan, while Sweden and the Netherlands won first place in Counter Strike Global Offensive for male and female categories, respectively.

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