Photo caption: The Polaris ESports team members poses for a group photo with the mock check during the awarding ceremony of the Predator Asia Pacific League 2022 in Japan. | contributed photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines—Polaris Esports brought pride to Cebu as it dominated the Asia Pacific Predator League 2022 held over the weekend in Tokyo, Japan.
Polaris Esports composed of team captain Marvin Salvador Rushton, John Anthony Vargas, Nicholson Villanueva, Nikko Bilocura, Nico Barcelon, and team manager Gef Osorio, bagged a whopping $75,000 cash prize for ruling this international ESports tournament that featured DOTA2.
Although members of the team are not all from Cebu, Osorio said that this team is “brewed and made in Cebu.”
“We even got the icon ‘Bisaya team.” Three players are pure Cebuanos. One is also Bisaya, but from General Santos, and the other one is from Antipolo,” said Osorio.
Osorio revealed that they needed three international Local Area Network (LAN)-based tournaments to become a champion. Before they bagged the title in Tokyo, they finished second in a separate international game in Thailand earlier this year.
“We felt good, happy and contented since we wanted to win at least one championship in a LAN event before 2022 ends,” he said.
Polaris ESports bested 13 other teams coming from different countries including Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Mongolia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Australia, India, and Bangladesh.
There were also other professional ESports teams that played such as Reject May, Team SMG, Execration, and TNC Predator.
The top three teams were actually from the Philippines. Placing second was Team Execration, while GrindSky ESports settled for third place. They bagged $30,000 and $15,000, respectively.
“Its not that we are expecting to win. But we were prepared not to fail,” Osorio added.
The team flew back to Cebu on Monday evening.
/bmjo
READ MORE:
Are you ready for the Asia-Pacific Predator League 2020/21 Grand Final?
PH eSports flourishes despite pandemic