KUALA LUMPUR: Selangor Red Giants boss Simon Lim believes their historic win in the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) Mid Season Cup (MSC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday proves that Malaysian teams are no pushovers in the sport.
Lim said that Malaysian teams are now on the rise and should not be looked down on.
Supporters from other countries have in the past dubbed Malaysia an "easy server", which is a condescending term to indicate that the standard of play in Malaysia is low.
"The (MSC) championship win and trophy says it all," said Simon after the Red Giants win on Sunday.
"To be honest, Malaysia has never been an 'easy server'. Not only the Red Giants (are strong), we also have other strong Malaysian teams as well.
"Malaysia will be very strong from now on, it is not only us, all teams in Malaysia are on the rise now. Watch out for them in the future."
Simon said Red Giants nail-biting 4-3 win over Falcons AP.Bren in the MSC final meant a lot to him personally.
It was a historic win for Red Giants as it made them the first Malaysian side to win a major international MLBB title.
"It means a lot, not only to me but also the Malaysian MLBB community as well. We should celebrate this success together," said Simon.
"The secret sauce is just hard work, hard work and more hard work. There was a lot of blood sweat and tears involved.
"I have to thank all the players, coaches, partners, family members and most importantly, my wife who has been my pillar of strength.
"We had a lot of disagreements when I first jumped into the esports industry, but she is in Riyadh supporting me."
Red Giants pocketed a mouth watering US$1 million (RM4.66 million) for the win while AP.Bren took home US$500,000 (RM2.33 million) for their efforts.
MSC, which is part of the Esports World Cup line-up, offered a lucrative US$3 million (RM14.1 million) prize purse.