RIYADH: They may have fallen at the final hurdle, but for Selangor Red Giants (SRG.OG), finishing second at the Mid Season Cup x Esports World Cup was still an achievement.
Despite a 4-1 loss to Team Liquid Philippines in the Grand Finals on Saturday in Riyadh, SRG.OG co-founder Simon Lim said he was proud of his team’s commendable run, which earned them US$500,000 (RM2,137,500) in prize money.
SRG.OG started the tournament as defending champions, defeating Russia’s VirtusPro but suffered a shock loss to Myanmar’s Mythic Seals in the group stage.
However, they bounced back with victories over Cambodia’s CFU Gaming, Indonesian giants RRQ Hoshi and world champions Onic Philippines to reach the Grand Final for the second time in the world meet in two years.
No team had ever made back-to-back Grand Final, that’s a historic achievement on its own for SRG.OG.
Simon said: “I’m incredibly proud. Our journey was like a rollercoaster.
“We got knocked down to the lower bracket, and honestly, I had doubts. I thought top eight would be enough. But these players and coaches went beyond that. We had to defeat giants like RRQ and Onic PH… it’s a huge achievement.”
Simon believes that SRG.OG’s international achievements should inspire other Malaysian teams to do the same.
His advice? “Invest in a strong technical line-up of coaches and staff, and let them make the decisions. If we want to elevate our league, we need to look for quality import players.”
However, Simon said local talent should not be sidelined.
“Our local players have no issues. Plenty of new players emerged last season and stepped up. We’ve got the talent here,” he added.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
