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Wednesday, June 13, 2007

NPL Klang Day 1



The 3rd series of the National Paintball League returned to the Klang Valley and it was held in a large public field in Pandamaran, Klang. This township is home to the Selangor royal family (it’s called Bandar Di Raja – Royal Town) and boasts world class sea port facilities. It is also famous for its seafood restaurants located nearby the ports (WK says nothing could rival Pak Su’s seafood restaurant in Kuantan, Pahang!!!)

Yep, we almost missed the boat for this leg because we didn’t have enough players to compete. As mentioned in the previous blogs, the team (excluding me and loco) went to play in the Pekan Fest tournament. WK won of course but it took quite a toll on the players – physically and financially. Gotta thank Kherox for deciding to forego his ‘holiday’ because without him the team would be in tatters in Klang.

There were rumors circulating that NPL Klang would witness the return of teams like Manawave, Assasin X, Raskal, Xtioneers / Mayhem etc. that are participating in ‘the other’ tournament. Well, that is why they call it rumors because it didn’t happen. It would have been great to have these teams playing again in NPL’s Division 1 because it would make it even more competitive and exciting. This time around though, Werdnahol was not participating because they played in PALS Taiwan.

Nonetheless, NPL is still ‘THE’ tournament to play in Malaysia because the organizers have done nothing but excellent work in organizing it. Even though there were minor glitches, their crew worked tirelessly to over come it. This leg also saw the organizers fielding brand new bunkers which they received few weeks earlier. They could’ve used the old ones (they’re only 1 years old by the way) but with the attention and sponsorships that the league has attracted, the organizers decided to invest on new ones.

Alright, let’s get back to WK. For this leg, WK only has 6 players as Nizam returned to play with his own team – Armada. How did we fare? Here’s our take on each game we played in Klang…

WK’s first game in Klang was against Delta Rovers. We played poorly in this game and deservedly lost. Jr was taken out earlier on and the rest was picked off one by one in matter of seconds. To tell you the truth, we seriously didn’t remember much for this game.

Our break (and streak) came in the second game against MacDev Ronin. On the get go we managed to take out one of them but they managed to even out the numbers by taking out Jr in the snake. Loco and Kherox made a move on the flanks managing to hold the Ronins advance. When Loco was taken out, Kaymo moved in from the left and took out Terry in the 50s. With Terry out of the way, Kherox and Caranthir moved up picking players along the way. Kherox got taken out while try to eliminate Ronin’s last man. Caranthir hanged the flag for the team marking our first win with 94 points for this tourney.

We then faced off against the Northern Lions of Perlis Hunters. Rather surprised to find out that Matthew, a former Bandit, playing with them. Nonetheless, we were pumped up after our first win and hell bent on winning. Again, we managed to clip one hunter on the break but they were relentless. They sent 2 players in the snake and Matt moved up on the left through the doritos. We were just soaking up everything that they were dishin’ out to us and fought back with tenacity. It was just chaos, one by one; players from each side were taken out left, right and center. Loco took out 1 snake player and tried to take Matt but ref ruled in favor of the latter. Matt then was taken out by Kherox but after few seconds got clipped by another hunter in the snake. Kaymo had to fend off the advancing snake from the back center which was actually the hunter’s last man. After cautiously moving up and realizing he’s the only player left on the field, Kaymo grabbed the flag and raced to the other end of the field. While being checked by the refs after the flag hang, Kaymo suddenly passed out and had to be brought off the field by the refs. He recovered and continued to play in our next game against Blackwidows.

Blackwidows in Klang were without Soon and Solo, also former Banditos, as they’ve left for greener pastures elsewhere. Heard they’re still playing but not sure with which team, we are looking forward to see them and their new team in action. Against the MBPJ outfit, it was a no contest and it would be a major surprise if we had lost against them or won badly. Loco hanged the flag for WK, we won with all bodies up and lots of time to spare. Next!!!


Hungry for more wins!

The other games that we played were after lunch break and we were left with only five players as Caranthir had to leave due to personal commitments. Luckily we had all 6 WK playing in Klang, otherwise it would have been a mammoth task to qualify for Sunday.

Our next opponent would be team Demonz which is one of the teams playing in the NPL 1st Division that we find difficult to beat no matter how hard we tried (probably we didn’t even try hard enough hehehehe…). Pot, a former WK player now with Xtioneers, is guesting for Demonz in Klang. Probably we were ‘cold’ after the lunch break so our concentration was not 100%. During the break, Loco accidentally shot Kaymo so WK only had 4 man on the field and with an opponent like Demonz, that’s LOCO!!! Jr. got clipped when he already crawled halfway through the snake. Loco made a move on the left and managed to get Demonz front man Terry (seems that he was the only one going forward for the team). Loco was eliminated soon after that and he was also joined by Harry who got shot waiting in a bumper. Now Kherox is left all alone at the back fending off the marauding Demonz. It didn’t take long for the Demonz to eliminate Kherox and from here on end; we were on a downward slide.

Nemesis, whatever you may think of them, they’re really good. Div 2 champs last year and this year they’ve got a chance to be the runaway winners for the Div 1 title. Even Demonz find it difficult to break this team down especially if it’s on Sunday because this is when they really step up their game. After the disastrous outing against Demonz, we decided to play our own game because we found out that if we change our game play to suit the opponents, we’re as good as dead. Kherox was eliminated early in the game when he got shot in the leg but the rest of us got to our bunkers safely. Jr and Harry were in the bumper while Kaymo manned the center back and Loco at the back right corner. After a while we started to lose our ground, Harry got shot and Jr. got clipped in the temple beside the bumper. Now there’s only Kaymo and Loco on the field and we didn’t even get any Nemesis on the body count. The situation was too hot; Kaymo got shot on both flanks. Loco was the last man, and in the melee he managed to down one Nemesis but that was the one and only opponent we were able to get. Last man Loco was taken out shortly after that.

Now it’s even, we’ve got a hat trick of wins and 3 losses. Our next game, a game that we just had to win to secure our place for Sunday’s elimination rounds, was against Tag Effect. We started off great, all of us made into our bunkers and we even managed to get one Tag at the same time. When things settled down, both sides got onto each other taking out players with each exchange of fire. Loco’s move on the left took out one Tag but he got hit at the same time. Jr meanwhile did his biznes in the snake, he also got hit after marking out an opponent. Kaymo was holding down a left dorito in the 30s trading fire with one Tag in a mirror bunker. Kherox charged down the snake side and managed to get a Tag in that area – Benny. Or so that was what we thought, the marshals cleared Benny but eliminated Kherox. Benny got to Kaymo who was unaware of the events that had happened. Benny’s teammate hung the flag on the other side and we watched the refs cleaning off Kherox’s work on Benny. We went to the head ref, Mohsin, protesting the call to clear Benny. Our argument was simple, how in the hell was Benny cleared when there were obvious hits all around? We would’ve agreed if both players were eliminated. That incident left a sour note in our tournament in Klang but shit happens, nothing could've been done anyway even if we had protested like madmen.

Now its 4 losses against 3 wins, not good numbers to have at that time. How we wished it was the opposite. However, looking at the points on the board, we’re set to proceed to Sunday. That was not the case though for our next opponent, Armada. For the NPL’s first ever tournament winner – The Pre-NPL Tournament, they’re already out of NPL Klang even if they win their next match with 100 points. Things have not gone right for Armada this year; they crashed out in the first leg and were not able to compete in the second. Chip aka Nizam has returned to Malaysia for good to lead the team again but seems that Armada is in need of a total shakedown. We’d love to have Chip and Batosai on the team because in the numerous occasions that they’ve guested with WK, they were able to give us even more options at the back and forward. (Get the hint hahahaha….)

Our game against Armada was a fast one, not because they had no mood to play anymore. It was freaking raining with lightning strikes coming nearby with each passing minute; we want to play but don’t want to die playing! WK won with Kherox being the only casualty. That signaled the end of Day One. Now we had to contend with the pouring rain which subsequently caused some games on Saturday to be postponed to Sunday.


Mud fest - Lolapalooza for Paintball

While we were packing, the team pondered on their chances for the next day because WK had a mixed performance day, just like the weather. We were hot in the first half of the day but got cold just after that. Probably it was the fatigue getting to those that have played in Pekan and also to the ones that didn’t play there, or it could be something else.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

its actually lack of focus and concentration don't u think?

Caranthir said...

pretty much thats the reason. luck can only do so much.

Kamarul Ariffin Drahman said...

yep, need more focus... will be posting up d 2nd day soon