Jake, VCT and the Filipinas

BANGKOK—Bleed Esports massacred SCARZ in the finals, 3-0, to rule the 2023 VCT Ascension Pacific Playoffs and secure its spot in the 2024 and 2025 Pacific League, and in the Masters and Champions Tournaments featuring the best Valorant teams from other regions.

Bleed, the team from Malaysia and Singapore, completely dominated their Japanese rivals, 13-9, 13-2 and 13-8 in the best of five finals held recently at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center in Bangkok, Thailand. A lot of fans who came to watch the finals expected a close match between Bleed and SCARZ and were completely surprised at how Bleed played a solid match in sweeping SCARZ. SCARZ earned the right to face Bleed in the finals af- ter they defeated NAOS Esports, an-all Filipino crew, 2-1 in the semifinals. Before the semifinals, The Designated Kit Man was able to chat with Jake Sin, Head of Valorant Esports, APAC-Riot Games, on the ongoing VCT Ascension Pacific tournament and plans to make Valorant even bigger in the Philippines.

Sin maintained that the country remains one of the priority markets of Riot Games in the Southeast Asian Region because of the hundreds of thousands or even millions of Filipinos playing Esports including Valorant, a 5 x 5 character-based tactical FPS developed by Riot Games that combines precise gunplay and unique agent abilities.

“The Philippines is the biggest player base in Asia Pacific and that hasn’t really translated very directly to Esports viewership. We definitely want to narrow that gap and because we have been successful in so many markets already and the Philippines also has that potential to succeed with our Esports,” Sin said.

Sin added that a good show by Filipino teams such as NAOS Esports in the VCT Ascension Playoffs will certainly bring more attention and interest to Valorant in the country.

“So we have two Filipino teams in the Pacific and if either one of them makes it to the Masters or Champions, I think that would be huge. I think that’s going to be a strong stimulus for Filipinos to rally around their teams and feel that national pride. Filipino teams doing well globally against other regional teams will result in a big spike in the region. We are very much looking forward to that,” Sin explained.

Singapore, where he anchored the Philippines’ three-gold, three-silver, and three-bronze haul.

Aside from reigning supreme in the parallel bars, vault, and floor exercise events, the world champion gymnast also collared a silver medal in the Individual All-around and a bronze in the horizontal bar.

For their exploits, the two Tokyo Olympics veterans led the Philippine Sportswriters Association’s honorees for June.

Similarly worth recognizing were the feats of Team Philippines in the Asean Para Games in Cambodia, Singapore-based bowler Zach Sales Ramin, and the IM Daniel Quizonheadlined chessers in the 21st Asean+ Age Group Championships in Thailand.

The Pinoy Para Games bets harvested 34 golds, 33 silvers, and 50 bronzes in Cambodia meet to surpass the 28-3046 collected last year in Indonesia.

At the forefront of this were six-gold winner Darry Bernardo and the chess delegation, which delivered 13 mints Ramin, 17, ruled the 53rd Singapore International Open and became the first Filipino male bowler to win the prestiQuizon topped the standard and blitz events in the premier U20 division and earned his third GM norm as he spearheaded the Philippines’ 16-gold, 37-silver, eight-bronze harvest and second overall standing behind Vietnam in the tourney.

He also added that aside from this, they are also planning to be more active in the Philippines in the coming days.

“We also want to have more physical interactions in the Philippines. I think having an offline event there and meeting the fans in person will have a big impact and that’s what we want to see,” he said.

Since its introduction in 2020, Valorant has enjoyed a growing following not only in Southeast Asia but all over the world. There has been a steady growth in the game in its many markets fueled by constant development of new content. This can be seen in the quality of teams competing in the VCT Ascension Pacific.

“It has been super competitive and super cutthroat. There is so much talent. So much strategy and team play that’s why we saw a lot of these group stage matches come close,” Sin said.

While he is relishing the development of Valorant and Esports in general despite the pandemic, Sin is also enjoying a new but a very much welcome development in his personal life. From a super gamer, Sin is now a super dad to his five month old twins - a boy and a girl - his version of an “ace” in Valorant.

He says he never thought that there was a need to balance his life which he initially spent most of it on work, until now.

“I am almost forced to create a distance between work and life but it helped me to separate, to contain my work part of self and then really be dedicated to my family. Spending time on my family has been super helpful to my mental health,” Sin added. Going back to Valorant, Sin says they are

Paranada, 3 more Fil-Ams commit to UST

UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas is looking at the big picture as they secured the commitment of four Fil-foreign talents to its men’s basketball program.

Kyle Paranada, Ashon Andrews, Geremy Robinson Jr., and Leland Estacio have all moved to Espana, boosting the men’s basketball program for the future.

“Preparation natin ito para sa hinaharap at masaya tayo na sasamahan tayo ng mga batang ito. Ebidensya ito na naniniwala sila sa sistema at programa na ginagawa natin dito sa UST,” said Growling Tigers coach Pido Jarencio.

Paranada is considered as the biggest catch being one of the main gunners for University of the East last season.

The fearless guard posted 11.64 points on 26-percent shooting from deep, 4.21 assists, 2.86 rebounds, 1.64 steals in 23 minutes for the Red Warriors.

The 5-foot-9 Paranada will have two more years to play in the black-and-gold.

doing everything to make Esport, and other games, more accessible to everyone, especially to new players. This is one of the reasons why they are kicking off Premier as the entry point to Esports. He believes Premier will play a big role in the coming days.

***

Seven days from now the Philippine Women’s National Football Team or the Filipinas will play their first-ever game in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup against Switzerland in Dunedin, New Zealand. The Philippine Football Federation has released the 23-woman lineup that will compete against the very best from all over the world.

Please include the Filipinas in your prayers and let us rally behind the team in this historic campaign.

Laban, Filipinas!

My nephew, Jacob Marcus Puno Navarro and his Aspire Football Academy mates ended their campaign in the 2023 Pyrenees Cup with a 2-1 breakthrough win against Juventus AC Mataró of Spain thus becoming the first-ever team from the Philippines to record a win in the tournament.

It was a remarkable achievement considering that the young Pinoy side lost its goal keeper due to an injury he sustained during a scrimmage three days before the actual tournament. Jacob and his teammates had to scramble to train a replacement goalie among themselves just to compete in the Pyrenees Cup. The team lost its first four games against Spanish teams RSD Alcala A, Blanca Subur, C.F. Puigcerda and Play Easy before ending their campaign with a bang.

Andrews, on the other hand, is hungry for an opportunity after only appearing in three games for University of the Philippines and largely seeing action in the preseason leagues.

The uber-athletic 6-foot-4 high-flyer can still play for three years in UST. Robinson Jr. is the son of former PBA import Geremy Robinson who last saw action for Air21 in 2011.

Standing at 6-foot-2, the younger Robinson still has four years of eligibility after being listed as a reserve for La Salle last season.

Estacio averaged 3.6 points on 40-percent shooting from three, and 1.6 boards in 11.8 minutes in his sophomore year for West Valley College in Saratoga, California.

The 6-foot-2 guard still has two playing years of eligibility.

All four will undergo residency before being cleared to play for UAAP Season 87.

Keep pushing and moving forward, Jacob! ***

In case you are free today until Sunday (July 14-16), you may want to take part in the 1st PNP Press Corps (PNPPC) 2023 Invitational Shootfest at the QCPD shooting range at Camp Karingal in Sikatuna Village, Quezon City. It is a Level 1 Philippine Practical Shooting Association sanctioned match with five stages and 120 rounds for handguns and Pistol Caliber Carbine. Aside from promoting the self-defense capability of its members, the first-ever PNPPC shootfest will also serve as a fundraising event for emergency financial assistance for its members in cases of harassment and attacks. For more details, please send queries to the PNP Press Corps Secretariat at leanabeabrnrd@ gmail.com or call 0928 508 1296.

On a personal note, congratulations to my good friend and Bedan brother Jocel De Guzman for his pet project Scam Watch Pilipinas. Barring any unfortunate event, Scam Watch Pilipinas will become the national citizen arm against cyber fraud by the government beginning today.

It’s about time that something concrete and real should be done against these scammers and their enablers, who are only good at giving out press releases but leave their customers to hang and dry when they get victimized by these criminals. Keep up the good fight, Jokel! Stay safe. Stay happy peeps!

For comments or questions, you can reach The Designated Kit Man at erel_cabatbat@ yahoo.com or follow his account at Twitter: @erelcabatbat