Lapu-Lapu City Holds Another City-Wide Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Tournament
Lapu-Lapu City (LLC) held another city-wide Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) tournament last Saturday, November 4, as part of Lapu-Lapu City Sports Commission’s sporting events in celebration of the upcoming Fiesta sa Opon.
Thirty-one out of the thirty-two registered teams showed up to play in Lapu-Lapu City’s Mayor’s Fiesta Cup 2023 Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Tournament | Photo by Daryll Galindo
Held in the Lapu-Lapu City Auditorium, thirty-one Oponganons battled it out in the one-day, city-wide tournament and Team Weigel came out victorious after defeating all five of their opponents without breaking any sweat.
Smart Omega Neos MDL pro Louis Gabriel Ariola (the leaning guy on the right) takes the stage with Team Weigel for their quarterfinals match | Photo by Daryll Galindo
Team Weigel was led by Smart Omega Neos EXP laner Louis Gabriel Ariola, who was also part of the previous year’s champions, Barangay Babag, back when he still played in amateur tournaments under the moniker of “Lord Celiboy”.
Together with his team, Louis and the rest of Team Weigel won PHP 20, 000 while the first-runner up, Crimson Esport’s Aries, and third-placer, Miracle Esports, bagged themselves PHP 15, 000 and PHP 10, 000 respectively.
Lapu-Lapu City is an Esports-Friendly City
Unlike last year, the Lapu-Lapu City Sports Commission only featured one game title as they dropped Call of Duty: Mobile this year. When asked why, LLC sports commissioner Vince Chan Carungay revealed that they only had enough budget to feature one game and decided it was going to be MLBB.
“Usa ra ang nakaya sa among budget because we have twelve different kinds of sporting events for our fiesta league (We only managed to get enough budget for one game as we have twelve different kinds of sporting events for our fiesta league),” Commissioner Carungay revealed in an exclusive interview during the event.
He then cited that the LLC Sports Commission prioritized the comeback of basketball as it was the first time since the pandemic that physical ball games were brought back into their lineup of events.
Nevertheless, Commissioner Carungay sees their efforts for city-wide esports tournaments as a platform for Oponganons to get exposed in competitions in hopes of helping aspiring esports athletes easily adapt if they do decide to go professional in the future.
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