The third stage of the Road To The Nationals ESports event goes to Cagayan de Oro on Aug. 25 in hope of developing more players who can be tapped to represent the country in future international meets.
The Road To The Nationals had just wrapped up the first two editions in Morayta, Manila and Cebu, respectively and the nationwide search for the country’s best e-gamers continues.
Six teams will compose The Nationals, which was created for egaming aficionados – TNC Pro Team, HappyFeet eSports, BrenPro Inc., Cignal TV Inc, PLDT/Smart Communications, and STI Education Systems – and they will select players to compete in the Road To The Nationals, a series of esports tournament set to happen nationwide.
But more than anything else, the event will serve as a prelude to creating a pool of players that could represent the country in future international meets and Philippine Olympic Committee president Ricky Vargas believes Esports is the future of Philippine Sports.
“They (IOC) had a one day session talking about esports. It was attended by the president of the IOC. The global group heading the international sports is Mr. (Patrick) Baumann, secretary general of the International Basketball Federation. On the POC side, I’m happy because the Philippines has formalized esports and an NSA has been created for esports because eventually we see the esports as the sports of the future. You cannot turn around anymore, but you have to bring it to the games. In the Asian Games, it’s going to be a demonstration sports. Hopefully, if we are able to get an NSA, be recognized and represent the Philippines, then we should consider esports in the Southeast Asian Games,” said Vargas.