SINGAPORE – After a drama-filled night, Singapore clinched a historic gold medal in e-sports at the SEA Games after Indonesia forfeited the grand final of the Mixed Valorant (PC) team event final on Thursday.
After taking the first game 13-8 in the best-of-three series at Olympia Mall on Wednesday night, Singapore led the second game 10-4 and were three rounds from securing gold only for play to be suspended owing to a dispute.
Indonesia had filed a complaint alleging that Singapore had used a bug that allowed them to see their rivals’ positions. Deliberations went on for a few hours, with the grand final postponed indefinitely.
On Thursday morning, Juanita “Valezka” Tanjung, the brand ambassador for Indonesia in the SEA Games, said that the team’s decision to forfeit the final was aimed at “upholding the nation’s dignity and considering the unfavorable conditions of the situation”.
Singapore’s team comprising Ayrton ‘artn’ Soh, Yeoh ‘Divine’ Chun Ting, Ingram ‘FREY’ Tan, Marcus ‘nephh’ Tan Rodman ‘vera’ Yap and Tidus ‘STYRON’ Goh had emerged as the third seeds after victories over Indonesia, Cambodia and Malaysia in the group stage.
They then booked their spot in the final after a 2-0 triumph over Vietnam – to whom they had lost by two points in the opening match – in the semi-finals earlier on Wednesday.
This is Singapore’s first gold in e-sports since it was introduced as a medal event at the biennial Games in 2019.
The Republic had come close at the previous two editions of the competition. In 2019, Thomas Kopankiewicz clinched silver in Starcraft II, while the Republic also finished second in the League of Legends: Wild Rift (women’s team) in 2022.
Valorant, a first-person tactical-hero shooter game, was introduced to the SEA Games this year.
