Filipinos crash out of title hunt at Pokemon worlds

SAN FRANCISCO, United States – End of the road for the Philippines in the Pokemon World Championships. 

No Filipino punched a ticket to the championship round of the Pokemon Worlds, as Day 2 came to a close at the Moscone Center here Sunday (Manila time). 

Only a handful of representatives from the Philippines remained in the running in Day 2 – Team Nemesis for Pokemon Unite, Noah Alampay for VG seniors, Ryan Kenrick Chua for VG Masters, and Scott Go for Pokemon Trading Card Game juniors. 

But as the competition closed, the finals were out of reach for each of the Filipinos. 

The giant-slaying Team Nemesis fell to Korea’s T1, 2-1, in the first round of the playoffs. 

Finishing on top of Group F in the group stage, Nemesis had to yield a game to T1 due to “sanitary issues”, as they used powder on their hands, which is supposedly illegal. 

Despite the 0-1 handicap, Nemesis was able to force the third game against T1 with a masterful victory. 

However, a late clash, as well as timely last hits, by T1 proved to be costly for the Philippine squad as they bowed in the third game. 

“Technical because of the powder and sanitary issues. There was a miscommunication. So since ang word na ni-use sa amin kahapon during the final fight is, ‘You should not bring powder,’ pero hindi nila sinabi not to use,” Nemesis head coach Albert “Berty” Camp told Philstar.com. 

“They saw the powder sa stage yesterday. Pero... I mean, main stage na yun, pero walang nanita. Tapos ngayon lang sila nanita. The investigation went slowly. And wala... yun, ganun yung nangyari. Kaya nagkaroon kami ng game loss with T1 on our first match,” he added. 

Despite this, Berty said the team still sees their stint at the Worlds as a success. 

The same goes for Alampay, who reached the top eight in his first world championship. 

“Feeling ko lang I got a lot of stress. Sometimes, even if you go undefeated in Day 1, it isn't always sunshine and rainbows for Day 2. I knew I was going to be in top cut, but even getting the losses, both losses, in the Phase 2 of Swiss, that hurt,” he said. 

“But I think a good thing I do know is that the people that I do play are good, and I'm grateful to have the opportunity to fight good people and converse with them,” he added.

“Of course, I'm not also just here for the battles because I get to experience some of the Masters Division players, I get to talk to my fellow Filipinos about their experiences, and we get to share in our losses and our wins.” 

Alampay finished Day 1 with an unscathed 8-0 record, leading the seniors division. 

But on Day 2, he fell against Leo Fontvieille of France and Alberto Fabi of Italy. Still, he was able to finish within the top four and got the bye in the Round of 11. 

In the Round of 12, he got booted out of the tournament by Brazil's Lucas de Carvalho Barbosa to finish with a 9-3-0 record. 

Chua, for his part, ended his run with a 7-4-0 record, good for 38th. Go bowed out with a 5-3-0 slate. 

The final of the world championships is on Monday (Manila time) at the Chase Center.