SIBOL earns QF berth in Pokemon Unite

Sibol’s Pokémon UNITE team completed a remarkable turnaround, sweeping its remaining matches to claim the top spot in Pool A and advance to the quarterfinals of the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 at Aichi Sky Expo on Saturday.

After opening its campaign with a disqualification, the Philippine squad bounced back in emphatic fashion, defeating Chinese Taipei and Malaysia by identical 2-0 scores to finish the group stage with a 2-1 record.

The Filipinos were dealt a major setback on Friday when both Sibol and Kazakhstan were disqualified from their opening match because of uniform violations.

Rather than allowing the controversy to derail their campaign, Sibol regrouped and responded with back-to-back victories, putting the team back in contention for a medal and securing the No. 1 seed in Pool A.

Sibol began Saturday by sweeping Chinese Taipei, 2-0, before producing another 2-0 victory over Malaysia for the Team Philippine campaign supported by the Philippine Olympic Committee and Philippine Sports Commission.

“Unfortunately, ‘yun nga, ‘yung nangyari kahapon. Pero binawi namin,” said Sibol Pokémon UNITE head coach Albert Camp. “Heading into the knockout stage, we are really prepared kung sino ‘man ang makakatapat namin sa quarterfinals. ‘Yun, we will still practice and tuloy pa rin kami kung ano ‘yung ginagawa namin para malagpasan namin ang quarterfinals.”

“We are really confident with our bracket for this Asian Games, but we didn’t underestimate our opponents,” Camp added.

Chinese Taipei, which entered its match against Kazakhstan with a 1-1 record, could still tie the Philippines at the top of the standings with a victory.

However, Sibol owns the head-to-head tiebreaker after its win over the Taiwanese side, assuring the Filipinos of the pool’s top seed.

Sibol will next face the winner of the final selection phase between Hong Kong and India in the quarterfinals.

The Philippine esports campaign also saw Karl Gonzalvo bow out of the Puyo Puyo Champions competition after losing to Thailand’s Tanarak Wongkitikun, 2-5, in the quarterfinals.