Paintball Magazine September 2015 | Page 70

WHAT IS YOUR HISTORY IN PAINTBALL? MAKES THIS EVENT SO SPECIAL? I played and got hooked on recreational paintball in 1988 and 1989 in New South Wales, Australia. In 2003 I was fortunate enough to have the right partners and I opened a paintball field in basically the capital of Malaysia. I’ve always promoted and played paintball as a sport aggressively. I started a Malaysian league called the Malaysia Paintball Official Circuit (MPOC) and organized Malaysia’s first international paintball event in 2004. I have travelled and played in international events we helped organized in the region as PALS. Along the way we organized the region’s first few scenario big games too. As a player I basically stopped after reaching my personal goal of being able to play for the region with my team in the Intercontinental Cup, Toulouse, France in 2007 after qualifying from our region. I think I got the year correct. The participants make it special I believe. From my observation the camaraderie and friendships formed during the event seem to be quite unique to it. Everyone seems to have time for each other. Perhaps it’s the island air. Apart from that and I am not sure if the participants care. We are in a nice controlled environment in the airconditioned Exhibition Centre, and formalities to the event not observed elsewhere include opening and closing dinners, attending VVIPs from the Royal family and Government and a pretty cool Playazz Party. I HAVE BEEN HEARING ABOUT HOW GREAT AN EVENT THE WORLD CUP IS FOR YEARS. WHAT 70 paintball magazine WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE MOMENTS FROM PREVIOUS WORLD CUP EVENTS? 2011 was very special to me as the milestones achieved for the recognition of the sport that particular year was nothing short of spectacular. It was the first year that the event was moved to Langkawi from Kuala Lumpur. The