From Thailand to the Philippines and finally, Saudi Arabia — these Thai imports are living their esports dream.
With the conclusion of PKL Spring 2025, ACT Esports Club finished third to become the final team representing the Philippines in HoK at the Esports World Cup.
The Thailand-based organization certainly shocked everyone with their sudden surge in the playoffs. This middling team was able to knock out Elevate and RWE Kadiliman, two local favorites, to earn their tickets to Riyadh.
Even more impressive is the fact that ACT Esports is playing with two imports from Thailand. Team captain Teetouchpaphon “Ormson” Khongruai and Ittiphat “Flukeyo” Rawangkan flew all the way to the Philippines to follow their esports dream, and now they have an opportunity to play against the best HoK teams from around the world.
“I’m excited because it’s my first time going abroad and experiencing the international stage,” said Ormson. Flukeyo followed with “I’m feeling happy and confident that we can do it.”
When asked what made them decide to move to another country to play in a foreign league, their response was straight to the point. “For me, I’ve always wanted to go to the Esports World Cup. I knew that if there was a chance, I needed to take the risk for that chance,” said Ormson.
“I took the risk because I want to fight every professional team,” said Flukeyo. “I want to challenge everyone at the Esports World Cup.”
Overcoming the Language Barrier
While they were able to succinctly respond to questions, it’s clear that the two are not fluent English speakers. This then begs the question of how the team communicates in-game, and Ormson admits it’s as messy as you’d expect.
“We do have problems when it comes to communication because we all have difficulties talking in English. So it all comes down to making a call and hope everyone understands.”
Flukeyo also adds, “We have problems when it comes to the smaller details, but we use what we practiced to coordinate in-game.” With that in mind, ACT Esports’ strategies and practice must be truly next level if they were good enough to challenge and beat teams who don’t have a language barrier problem.
“We just talk to each other constantly, both in and out of scrims,” continued Ormson. “We’re always talking about game plans and strategies.” Flukeyo mentions that the team also consistently plays ranked games together. In these indirect ways, ACT Esports is able to build a bond of trust with each other.
Will that trust be enough against the international competition at the Esports World Cup? Time will tell, but for now, this dark horse is enjoying their moment to be a part of one of the biggest esports events of the year.
Banner photo from Level Infinite.