The goal is to always go for gold for the upcoming World Esports Championship.
Spirits were high in the SIBOL national team 2025 IESF roster press conference held at the ground floor of the Launchpad Building. Both the men’s and women’s MLBB teams were present to say hi to fans and answer the media’s questions.
“Very thankful kami na nakapasok uli kami sa national team,” said Mery “Meraaay” Vivero, Roamer for the MLBB women’s national team. “And siguro ito din yung redemption namin.”
The women’s team failed to qualify for last year’s IESF tournament. An unfortunate turn of events, considering that they later won the MLBB Women’s Invitational later that year. Now that the same roster is back on the SIBOL national team, they’re looking to correct that mistake.
“For me personally, andun naman talaga yung pressure,” continued Meraaay. “Pero confident naman kami lahat and sanay naman kami sa international stage. Kailangan lang namin i-defend yung title namin, lalo na sa mga ibang upcoming tournaments, at kaya namin gawin yun.”
Representing the MLBB men’s national team once again are Team Falcons–the same roster that won the IESF gold in 2023. When asked how they’re able to stay at the top of the competition for so long, Roamer Rowgien “Owgwen” Unigo said it’s all about consistency, plus they have some help this time around.
“Meron kaming mga bagong kasama which is si [Grant “Kelra” Pillas] and [Sanford Vinuya]. So malaking tulong sila sa roster namin ngayon kasi sila yung MPL champion and MPL finalist. Tingin ko malaking boost yon para sa team kaya napanatili yung liyab sa paglalaro namin.”
Michael “KyleTzy” Sayson, the only member of the 2023 roster to return for 2024, is also bringing the lessons he learned to the SIBOL national team. “Yung pinaka-natutunan ko last year is yung importance ng practice time namin. So ngayon, marami kaming time para maka-practice at pagandahin yung performance namin para sa upcoming tournament.”
Earning the Right to Represent the Philippines
“In terms of how we choose our players, they actually all earned their spot,” remarked SIBOL General Manager Jab Escutin. “We do not choose you. If you want to be in the national team, you go through the qualifiers, play your hardest, and make sure you earn your spot.”
This process has been the SIBOL national team standard since its founding, and Jab only sees it as a positive for selecting our national esports athletes.
“As we progress and try to support different Filipino athletes, having different teams represent different tournaments just says that we have an overflow of talent. And we expect all of those teams to bring home medals. It’s not that we’re only expecting one team to be successful. No matter who they are, we expect them to all be successful.”
And of course, SIBOL and PESO are working around the clock to ensure that our esports athletes have all the best resources possible in order to succeed.
“We want to set a good example of how the Philippines supports their athletes,” continued Jab. “It doesn’t matter what they need as long as we can provide it. We will provide it for them so they can focus on competing and winning.”
Banner photo by Ramon Domingo.