As the laws vary, so too do player numbers. The Nations Cup attracted twelve five man Malaysian teams, many of which were cobbled together from friends and relatives during the weeks immediately preceding the tournament. There are several tens of thousands of Malaysians who have played, Paul reports, and around one hundred thousand who knew about paintball before the Nations Cup. Comparatively, there are very few people in Singapore who know about paintball, the sport has spread well into Thailand, and the Japanese are quickly developing interest.

The Nations Cup committee set out to host an event that would showcase paintball for Asia and demonstrate how serious it can be for players and for international business...and how much safe fun people can have in a weekend! Designed as much as a political occasion as a competitive event, the teams each looked towards proving to the Malaysian government that paintball is a sport that needs official recognition, legal understanding, and government promotion.

This is the same mission the Malaysian Paintball Association, an unrelated entity, has been pushing for over the last fourteen months. "Government recognition is critical" MPA president Azizul Rahman said.

Paintball came to Malaysia in the very late 1990s, with the opening of the first field: Paintball Tag, on the east coast. Soon thereafter came the opening of Xtion Paintball, the Nations Cup facility, in the Sunway Extreme Park between a skate park, a go-kart track, and an off road driving course. The originators of paintball in Malaysia learned the rules and formats from magazines and on the internet. From that humble understanding, they reverse engineered the sport and pushed the concept all the way to the level of an international tournament.

"What we are doing is emulating what people have done," Paul explained, "and trying to do it better, in our own way. Hospitality is one of our strong points." This hospitality greeted paintball players from the moment they stepped onto Malaysia Airlines, the official airline sponsor of the tournament. Strong hospitality carried through meals and parties for the entire week.

Most flights arrived on Wednesday, bringing Dynasty members Yosh Rau, Oliver Lang, and Richard Loughran from America. Teams Phoenix and Tsunami from the UK also flew in, along with Kiwi from New Zealand, XPP from the Philippines, a single player from Japan, Southern Cobra from Brunei by way of their medical school in Cardiff, UK, players from Hawaii, and me.

Those in country on Wednesday night were treated to the finest hospitality Malaysia could muster for paintball ambassadors. A bus took the group to visit a former Dutch military post overlooking the Straight of Malacca, where players fed wild monkeys and snapped pictures of historic cannons pointed menacingly at the most pirated waters in the modern world. Then the bus took us to a firefly sanctuary, where we ate a four course Malaysian meal, discovered 100 Plus "Isotonic energy drink," and spent time cruising a dark river on a longboat, watching fireflies light up the night.

"I feel like royalty!" one player commented on the ride back, impressed by the food, the hospitality, and whole experience of Malaysia. Most of the other riders were asleep, tired from a day spent traveling thousands of miles and adjusting to the culture and climate shock of a tropical paradise only four degrees north of the equator.

Players flocked to Xtion Paintball during the week leading up to the Nations Cup, some to try shooting a marker for the very first time. Dynasty and Phoenix players held scrimmages against anyone up for a game, and Tsunami and Kiwi practiced for the tournament on the XBall fields. Russell Smith of the UK Refs conducted their well known referee training classes on Thursday and Friday, cycling more than sixty referees through by the end of the seminar. Nearly a dozen of these newly minted referees worked the Nations Cup, while most of the rest played on teams entered into the competition.

Quite a few players ventured into Kuala Lumpur in search of souvenirs and good times, while some checked out other local fields like Paintball Tag and Adrenaline Paintball...both indoor facilities. Malaysia has around six formal paintball facilities at this time, two of which are indoor affairs offering play during the rainy days.

Private marker ownership is effectively illegal in Malaysia, as it is in many Asian countries, but individual facilities can obtain special permits to legally own markers. They must also install special security features in their facilities to store the markers...security features that often include double sets of steel bars over doors and windows, electronic security monitoring devices, multiple locks, and other safeguards.

The electronic markers brought in by the foreign teams were the first high-end tournament grade markers most of the Malaysian players had ever seen. Until they succeed in changing the private marker ownership laws, Malaysian players are relegated to using the rental markers at whatever field they patronize.

The exhibition games between such local teams as el Bandito and international teams like Tsunami at first seemed quite off balanced, with the locals carrying all mechanical Spyder rentals facing off against E Blade and Intimidator markers, but it quickly became apparent that whatever the Malaysians lacked in gear they made up for in heart. These hardcore players are why paintball is going to grow throughout Asia.

Thursday evening saw the first meeting of the Asia Pacific Paintball Conference, organized by Sam Kim and Brandon Burgeron. Representatives from throughout Asia, as well as Austral Asia, discussed the state of paintball in their home countries and the direction in which the sport was heading. Talk was made of forming the APPC into a viable entity under the governance of the charter members, and agreement was reached that a paintball lobbying and event promotion organization such as the proposed APPC was needed. The direction this initiative will take is still forming.

 

Opening ceremonies, held Friday at the Sunway Extreme Café adjacent to Xtion Paintball, featured one of the best meals we ate in Asia, as well as speeches by event coordinators and a ceremony recognizing and thanking the team captains for attending the tournament. A captain's meeting followed the opening ceremonies, and many players loitered around the site listening to music and talking about the promise of hot paintball action under the tropical sun.

Saturday

The competition on Saturday was designed to rank teams first through eighteenth, so that two balanced skill divisions could be drawn for Sunday: one of even numbered teams, the other of odd, so that each would have relatively similar numbers of comparable teams. This concept has worked in the UK for years, and was explained at the Captain's meeting following opening ceremonies. However, this was different from a proposed format distributed weeks previously, and across the language and understanding gaps a certain miscommunication occurred.

Teams played their hearts out Saturday, expending the bulk of their energy and paint in games that ultimately didn't matter for much of anything: first was no different from fifteenth, as both were odd numbers that would be lumped together for the "quarterfinal" play on Sunday.

Two fields divided the action, both XBall inflatable fields with a three to one bunker to player ratio, and both favoring the aggressive style of gregarious front players. Set up to resemble ten man fields, the inflatable courses were ideally suited for tactical games between the five man teams. Lane shooting was imperative to stop advances to critical positions, snap shooting was necessary to win tense one-on-one shootouts around the horizontal X on Field One and the mirrored snakes on Field Two, and there was enough bunkering action to keep spectators on their toes.

The netting separating the fields from the spectators was a form of construction netting used as well in fishing and agriculture. It was composed of thick nylon line knot-woven into a mesh with one-half inch holes, then stretched sideways to compress the holes horizontally. I observed no paintballs, even from close range direct shots, go through the netting. It performed quite remarkably. Supplies from paintball equipment manufacturers in the US and Europe are difficult to get, and expensive, so Malaysians are often forced to improvise.

The last games of the day wrapped up just minutes before the heavens poured forth with their Monsoon waters. December is the rainy season in Malaysia. No weather problems affected the tournament on any day, though, and aside from temperatures many found uncomfortably warm (especially for December!) the climate was quite good for paintball!

Sunday

The day of the quarter finals began with confusion, but Ultimate Ref Russell Smith quickly explained the reason each team was slated to play another eight game round robin division. He would have none of the idea of changing the format halfway through the tournament. "I hope to get the respect of teams once they know me, once they know my decisions," Russell explained of his relations to the uncertain crowd. "I had to win them over, and the only way to do that is by being honest with them, explaining things to them, that the decisions we make are not personal."

Two teams withdrew from the tournament upon hearing of the number of games ahead, explaining they had neither the energy nor money for paint to play so many more games. Despite protestations from their opponents, and offers of playing hopper ball to ease their costs, they withdrew. Some of these players were picked up by other teams to fill alternate positions, while others watched the games unfold from the show wire.

Sunday morning's matches got underway almost on schedule...which is way ahead of expectation, given the "deadline plus an hour's wait" nature of Malaysian Time.

Weary players gave surprisingly intense play throughout the quarterfinals. Front players bunkered each other in the snakes on Field Two, and mid players kept Field One lanes shut down to make it hard to reach the X on the tapeline that bordered Xtion's jungle field (a real jungle, too...it's in Malaysia!).

By mid afternoon the sixteen teams had been paired down to fourteen after two competing teams ran out of energy and paint, thus removing them from the running. The top four teams from each division were thrown into an open "semi finals" pool, where matches were randomly drawn for a single elimination push to the finals. The first four teams eliminated were Kiwi, from New Zealand, X Fox from Malaysia, Cobra from Malaysia, and Delta Angel. The game for third place between Manawave and Demonz turned when a Manawave player ran out of bounds. The Demonz eliminated the rest of the Manawave team, and eventually (after coaxing from the audience) ran the flag in for a clean hang.

Tsunami faced Xtreme Paintball Philippines in the championship match, which was slated to be a best of three games affair. The television crew from Royal Television Malaysia, as well as journalists from many newspapers and magazines, swarmed Field Two to record every heart pounding move and moment of adrenaline addled confusion.

In game one the teams crumbled to one XPP player, Brandon Burgeron from Japan, facing two Tsunami players. Brandon used superior snap shooting skills to suppress both opponents, clipping one Tsunami player to bring the odds to even-up. He capitalized on the moment, charging downfield through blind spots and bunkered the last opponent! With a triumphant bounce in his step he trotted to the flag and carried it to the Tsunami start station for the first win of the series.

Game two evolved to three Tsunami players opposing two XPP back players, when Special Boy on the Tsunami team slid into the snake...and broke the Halo off of his marker! Single feeding balls, he managed a meager snap shooting offense while his teammates eliminated the last two opponents.

Game three held the drama, framing the question "who will walk away with 4,000 Ringgit?" The first place equivalent of barely more than $1,000 was nothing to laugh at, but was only a drop in the bucket towards covering paint expenses for either of the winning teams. First place was about pride: being the best team in what could be the most important tournament Malaysia ever held. They cleaned their markers and cautiously stole sips of water as they waited for their big chance.

"I've got butterflies in my stomach, anything can happen," said Richard Paulino of XPP. "We're going to be really aggressive on this one, and try to take them out early."

But XPP broke out conservatively, taking their familiar first bunker positions and keeping their markers high to clip Tsunami's tape runners. XPP dropped two off the break and only lost one of their own.

Then Tsunami dug in, concentrating their shots on the XPP front players. One dropped, then another, and a Tsunami player got whacked as well; two on two, mid players on XPP against front players Special Boy and Guppy on Tsunami. Special Boy charged to the snake under Guppy's cover, speed crawling downfield to side shoot XPP. Brandon bolts out from behind his standup and charges to bunker special boy in the snake!

Guppy cuts him off after only three steps. Overcome with a mixture of some emotion, maybe despair, maybe hope, the remaining XPP player screams and charges wildly down the center of the field. Seconds later, Guppy walks the flag in to win the Championship.

The Legacy

The first Nations Cup ended without injury, and largely without incident. The level of hospitality established early in the week continued, making everyone (American, Malaysian, Kiwi...) feel truly special. Three hours after the last shot was loosed in the finals, everyone met at 12SI in Kuala Lumpur for a celebration party with dinner and the official awards show. A great time was had by all, but the good times were only beginning.

Many of the initial goals of the tournament were met. Paul Lan gave a summation. "To me, most of the goals were met. I knew why I wanted to do this tourney. I think there was a celebration (of paintball). It could have been better, but we managed it. We educated the Malaysian public about what paintball is. We got the media coverage. We got a form of cooperation going in the region. We got people from many countries coming in, and they are people keen enough to get paintball in their respective countries. They are here thanks to Malaysia Airlines. We got good marshalling. As far as our Malaysian teams seeing how the overseas teams play, we've all seen how Dynasty (and other teams) plays. Malaysia and the other countries all have a better sense of what we can add on to this sport."

The tournament drew the attention of government officials in the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Tourism, and other government agencies...each with a keen eye for profitable sports, safe recreation, recreational opportunities for Malaysian citizens, and opportunities to promote sports tourism in Malaysia. Nations Cup also received coverage in countless magazines and newspapers outside of the paintball industry, and was even featured in its own special program on RTM last January. The exposure introduced the sport to Malaysians who otherwise would have no way to discover paintball, and showcased what can be done by focused individuals in a country that allows such an activity. "If we can do a Nations Cup without their support," Paul beamed, "imagine what can be done when they truly come in!"

Elsewhere In Asia

Paintball tournaments are currently held in Japan, but they center around US military facilities, such as the field that Brandon Burgeron maintains at Yokosuka. Markers are legally restricted only by their operating pressure, with the maximum legal operating pressure set at 300psi. "For all the new electros, that's not a problem, but the (less expensive) markers, the Spyders and stuff like that, that is a problem," Brandon explained.

Paintball is currently illegal in Brunei, as the markers are considered firearms under Brunei law. There are paintball games, though, affairs held on private land with markers carefully brought into the country. Team Southern Cobra is working to change the laws. Comprised of players in Brunei and their teammates abroad at medical school in Cardiff, UK, the team lobbies the Brunei government while building a hardcore following of student players in Cardiff. When they return to Brunei, they hope to bring their sport with them.

Paintball is tightly regulated in the small country of Singapore, which only has one field. Operated at a resort, that field is the sole outlet for paintball players. "Most of us Singapore boys have had military training at eighteen," explained Sudden Death player Rick, "so we've handled really weapons before. But paintball is very different from firing a real gun, but you still deploy the same thing, you move fast, use cover."

There are several fields in Thailand, tied primarily to resort areas.

The Philippines have several fields and traveling teams, including XPP, who have competed in other international tournaments.

Paintball is legal in Indonesia, where it has developed for at least ten years. Team java Genies hailed from Indonesia, the island country off the coast of Malaysia.

Paintball enjoys a steady popularity in New Zealand, where it has developed only slightly behind America's trends since the late 1980s. Players there formed the New Zealand Paintball Player's Association, under the direction of NZPPA president Martin Dannefaerd. Martin joined other league members on team Kiwi in the Nations Cup.

The development of paintball in Asia will bring new business opportunities to paint manufacturers as well as makers of markers and soft goods, and at some point might involve an international circuit as developed and prestigious as the NPPL or Millennium Series. The potential is there...now the responsibility is in their hands!