Sibol's Dota2, Women's Mobile Legends squads rule international qualifiers

MANILA, Philippines – It was a busy weekend for the country's national esports team, Sibol, as it participated in two events — the Asia Qualifiers for the Global Esports Games for the women's Mobile Legends Bang Bang (MLBB), and the South East Asia/South Asia Finals for the International Esports Federation's (IESF) World Esports Championship (WEC) for Dota2.

The Women's MLBB team ran a perfect campaign in the group stages, sweeping their opponents from Mongolia, Bangladesh and Vietnam, 2-0, to book a ticket to the playoffs. The team clinched an outright a spot in the upper bracket semifinals happening on September 21 at 5 p.m.

Only the top two teams from the Asia Qualifiers get to move on to the main event of the Global Esports Games for women's MLBB happening in China later in the year.

The IESF Qualifiers for Dota2 originally meant to be the Asian Championship happening in Chengdu China later this month but was cancelled and was replaced by four online qualifiers across Asia and Oceania. Sibol was included in the South East Asia/South Asia Finals with Malaysia, India and Nepal.

Sibol started strong with a dominant display against Nepal, taking a 2-0 sweep, with both games lasting less than 20 minutes. Up next was Malaysia, the top-seeded team heading into the finals, which had bested Sibol in the Southeast Asia Qualifier last June.

Raring to avenge their earlier defeat, Sibol took the first game after a 54-minute back and forth between the two teams. Malaysia managed to equalize in Game 2, but Sibol turned things around in Game 3 to secure the victory, 2-1.

Having survived Malaysia, it was smooth sailing for Sibol as they once again dominated the last remaining team, India, with an 11-minute, 28-second Game 2 victory to book their ticket to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for the 2024 IESF World Esports Championship slated in November.