PH GRABS ONE MORE GOLD IN ESPORTS

CAVIAR Napoleon Acampado lived up to expectations as he handed the Philippine esports team Sibol another gold medal after thrashing Singapore’s Thomas Kopankiewicz, 4-1, in the grand finals of the Starcraft II discipline in the 30th Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) on Tuesday at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.

Acampado, popularly known as “Enderr” (in-game name), quickly grabbed a two-game lead in the best-of-seven gold medal match en route to giving Sibol its third gold in the esports competition that debuted in the biennial meet this year.

“I’m so happy because all the pressure that I felt for a year is gone now,” said Acampado, the 2018 World Electronic Sports Games champion in Southeast Asia and a perennial contender in various international tournaments.

The 27-year-old standout dropped the third game against Kopankiewicz (in-game name “Blysk”) but regained his composure in the next games to seal the expected deal.

“It (Game 3 loss) was more on my fault so I thought I just needed to regain my focus,” he said.

Acampado completed a five-game sweep of the group stage against Kopankiewicz and the bets of Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.

He then survived Vietnam’s Tran “MeomaikA” Hong Phuc, 3-2, in the winner’s final to advance to the gold medal round. Tran took home the bronze.

Acampado added to Sibol’s golden haul from Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) and Dota 2.

Both teams pulled off come-from-behind wins in the series that went down the wire, with Sibol MLBB upsetting fancied Indonesia, 3-2, last Sunday night and Sibol Dota 2 taking down Thailand, 3-2, on Monday night.

Sibol could snare a fourth gold out of six gaming titles as Alexander “AK” Laverez and Andreij “Doujin” Albar were competing in Tekken 7 at press time.