Photo: Sibol/Facebook

By Tiffany Dela Cruz

SIBOL salvaged two bronze medals in the inaugural Southeast Asian Esports Nations Cup in Ho Chi Minh City last Saturday, avoiding a medal shutout in the regional meet.

Francis Carl Fusingan opened his campaign in the solo event of PUBG Mobile with a runner-up finish in Game 1 before placing seventh in Game 2, which proved enough to clinch the bronze medal, while Abdul Barode ended in fifth.

Fusingan finished behind the Indonesian pair of Alan Kumaseh and Fazriel Aditya, who finished first and second, respectively.

Unfortunately, Fusingan and Barode had a disappointing campaign in the duo event, where they ended up seventh out of 10 teams.

Meanwhile, the SIBOL CrossFire Legends squad composed of Jerrold Regay, Mark Joshua Valerio, Rovic Garcia, John Rivera, Jericho Pablo, and and Marc Lorzano fell short of making it to the finals after absorbing a close 9-11 defeat at the hands of host team Vietnam.

That close encounter against the Vietnamese side allowed them to secure the bronze medal, with Malaysia settling for fourth place following a lopsided 4-10 semifinal loss to eventual silver medalist Indonesia.

Vietnam took home the gold medal in the CrossFire Legends event following a 2-1 win over the Indonesians.