It took three tries but the star EXP Laner finally gets his shot to make the Philippines proud.
At long last, Team Sibol’s Sanford Vinuya gets to live his dream of representing the Philippines in the 2025 SEA Games. He missed out on his previous two attempts to compete for the national team but now, together with the MPL PH S16 championship lineup, he gets to defend the Philippines’ three-peat SEA games gold medal streak.
There’s a lot of expectations piled onto the national team’s shoulders. Despite sending a different lineup every SEA games, the Philippines has managed to maintain its dominance in MLBB. But Sanford was all smiles when we talked with him during the Team Sibol’s sendoff party.
“Pure excitement lang talaga,” said Team Sibol’s Sanford. “Gusto ko talaga yung feeling na rine-represent mo yung country mo sa SEA games.”
When asked how he and the team have been dealing with the pressure, Sanford almost brushed aside the question. Obviously he and his teammates are no strangers to high-pressure environments, so it’s no surprise that they’re able to stay focused for the task ahead.
“Sine-set aside namin yung pressure kase wala naman mangyayari kung mapre-pressure kami,” said Team Sibol’s Sanford. “Isa din sa motivations namin i-meet yung expectations ng mga manonood kasi kilala naman ng lahat ang Pilipinas as the strongest sa MLBB. Kailangan lang namin patunayan yan.”
The advantage of playing with teammates that you’re familiar with can’t be understated, especially if it’s a championship winning lineup. Sanford makes that clear in both how they’re handling the pressure and how they’re preparing for the competition.
“For practice, wala naman [kailangang changes] kase magkakasama naman lahat kame. Wala talagang kailangan baguhin kasi palagi ok naman yung preparations namin. I think enough na yon.”
It seems Sanford and the rest of Team Sibol are quite confident in themselves and hopefully that’ll be enough to win them the gold this SEA games.
Banner photo from SIBOL.