By Joey Alarilla

INQUIRER.net

SEOUL--The Philippines crushed Germany, 2-0, in their best-of-three match to win third prize in the Ragnarok World Championship 2007.

As the third prize winner in the international tournament that drew participants from 11 countries, the Philippine team will be going home with a trophy and three million won (approximately $3,280 or P146,800).

"We had a strong performance, " Milton Sy, the manager of the Philippine team, Armada, told INQUIRER.net in an interview after the Philippines defeated Germany in the battle for third place.

"It's just so sad that we were had to immediately face South Korea. Their build [the choice of which characters will make up a party and the stats for these characters] was strong against the Philippines. Their build negated our Dancer [one of the Ragnarok character classes], so it was almost like seven versus six in our match against them," Sy explained.

The Philippines lost to South Korea, 0-2, in the semifinals match held this morning.

In the championship match, however, the Thai team Destruction shocked South Korea by defeating the host country, 3-1, in the best-of-five encounter.

Thailand drew first blood by winning the first game, but South Koreans fought back to level the score, 1-1. Thailand, however, would not be denied as Destruction won the next two games to bring home the gold.

Thailand won the first prize of 10 million won ($10,900), while South Korea received five million won ($5,470).

Asked what the Philippine team learned from their experience and how they will further improve their performance, Sy replied, "Since this is our first time to experience an international tournament, now we have more exposure. We will be more prepared than ever for the next international tournament."

Team Armada is composed of Bein Patrick Limpin, Mel Bryan Ungra, Chris Dimaunahan, Emmanuel Deleon, Jeffrey Custodio, Frederick Banaag and Aaron James Fernandez.

The 11 countries that participated in RWC 2007 are South Korea, the US, Russia, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, Brazil, Indonesia, Vietnam, Germany and the Philippines.