The title of Grand Champion of SPNS 2008 went to a well-deserved team formed by a group of Filipinos working in Singapore. The team called themselves PSG Warfreakz which also means Pinoy Singapore Warfreakz. Such great were their interest in paintball that some of the players even managed to convince their wives to form an all-female team to compete as PSG Charlie in the second leg of SPNS 2008.
In the third and final leg of SPNS 2008, there was also an increase in the number of participating students including a rookie team from Institute of Technical Education. This group of students proudly called themselves Team RunAwayGunners, in short, Team R.A.G. Their speed and wits in the game surprised the more experienced tournament teams and led to some surprising wins in the qualifying round. Though they did not make the cut to the second round of the competition, their reputation among the tournament paintball scene surpasses the statistics of their playing experience and will be a team to watch out for in next year’s competition.
Ng Chee Yong, a Nanyang Polytechnic IT student, co-led his team with his team captain, Bryan Lim, an NS man, from the bottom rung of chart in SPNS Leg 2 to a credible 4th position, losing the bronze medal narrowly. As a humble and hardworking student, he said, “I never expect my team to come this far but the results are definitely a pleasant surprise! I hope more of my schoolmates can join me in this sports!”
The Most Valuable Player award is given to the best player from the competition and is voted by the teams after each match. The one with the most number of players’ votes wins the award. The MVP Award was given to Thomas Lee, an SIM student in the 2nd leg. In this final leg, Faris, an ITE student from Team R.A.G, won the award and received an MVP medal and paintball jersey. Faris said, “I never expect myself to be able to do so well in this sports and my mother is very proud that I have won this award.”
SPNS 2008 is based on the Millenium Series rulings which governs the Europe paintball competitions and are widely adopted in Asian competitions. In this novice series, a 3-man format is adopted, meaning that each team can register up to 3 players and 2 reserves.
Paintball Association of Singapore invited a guest referee from Malaysia, Mr Junaidi Khalil, who is also the Head Referee for World Cup Asia (WCA) and Paintball Asia League Series (PALS). As the President of Malaysian Marshals, he was impressed with the discipline and sportsmanship of the paintball players in Singapore. He complimented the efforts of the Paintball Association of Singapore in educating the rookie players through the Basic Tournament Orientation course and the system of paintball promotion and education implemented in Singapore.
In her closing speech of SPNS 2008, President of Paintball Association of Singapore, Ms Jane Koh, shared with all players that, “Paintball in Singapore is still young and has a long way more to go to catch up with our neighbouring countries. The Paintball Association of Singapore is dedicated to the promotion of the sports by creating more awareness for paintball and raising the playing standards so that Singapore can compete against the rest of the countries.” The Paintball Association of Singapore will be working closely with the Singapore Sports Council and schools to promote and develop paintball in Singapore.
Article By:
Janelle Koh
President
Paintball Association (Singapore)