Team Red West wins 2nd leg of Singapore Paintball Novice Series

Story contributed by reader Ben "King"

Pasir Ris Park, Native Lawn, Sunday, May 17, 2009 – Team Red West, champions in leg 1 of the Singapore Paintball Novice Series (SPNS) 2009, made it two in a row when they clinched another champions’ medal in the second leg of the competition.

With three of its players playing for the Red Sevens team, a Singapore Division 3 team participating in the Malaysia Paintball Official Circuit (MPOC) and Malaysia National Paintball League (MY-NPL), the Red West team displayed immense teamwork and proficiency during the eight qualifying games and eventually winning the title.

Five-O, participating for the first time in the SPNS, finished second after a series of impressive games against some of the top sides in the series such as Kamikaze and Dark Militia in Round 2.

Last leg's runners-up, Contract Killers, finished third while Dark Militia claimed fourth.

Established in 2008 and organized by the Paintball Association (Singapore), SPNS 2009 Leg 2 is the first paintball competition held outside a licensed paintball arena. Supported by the Singapore Sports Council and the National Parks Board, this leg of the competition saw 13 paintball teams vying for Singapore's top paintball honour.

Introduced to Singaporeans in 2008, competitive paintball, otherwise known as speedball, the national sports association has also promoted this sport with roadshows in Singapore Polytechnic and Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

Singapore Polytechnic has also recently become the first institution to introduce the sport of speedball to its students and they intend to establish a paintball club in the school.

One of the most exciting segments of the tournament was the "Top Gun" Division where teams would send a representative to compete in a 1-on-1 paintball game where spectators of the event were involved in delivering sideline coaching. The "Top Gun" Division is a test of a player's individual skills and of his ability to cope with the immense pressure of the match under the eyes of a crowd.

This leg's "Top Gun" Division was won by Sean Low, a student from Pei Cai Secondary School who has been playing paintball as a competitive sport for more than 2 years. His team the Death Mavericks was in 3rd position after the qualifying rounds.

"We have seen vast improvement in the level of the game. Participants are getting more skilful and technically sound as compared to last year. To continue developing paintball, we'll need the local authorities to reconsider the classification of paintball markers as a firearm but as a sporting equipment, similar to a foil in fencing, a bow in archery or a bat in softball," said Jane Koh, President of the Paintball Association (Singapore) who is also the Tournament Director since the dawn of the SPNS.

Champion - Red West
1st Runner Up - Five-O
2nd Runner Up - Contract Killers
3rd Runner Up - Dark Militia
Young Gun - Sean Low (Death Mavericks)
Official results of SPNS 2009 Leg 2 can be found at www.weplaypaintball.com/SPNS.html