MY-NPL 2009 - Grand Finale - The Conclusion

The Malaysian National Paintball League has come to a grandeur end with the completion of the fifth round which was held on 7 and 8 November 2009 at The Malaysian Paintball Academy, Astaka Sports Complex, Petaling Jaya, Selangor. The fourth edition of the MY-NPL received the fullest support from The Malaysian Ministry of Youth and Sports and The Petaling Jaya City Council.

A total of 62 teams competed in the final round comprising of 10 teams in Division 1, 7 teams in Division 2, 16 teams in Division 3 and 29 teams in Division 4. The proceeding of the first day of the tournament started with the preliminary matches of the Division 2 and 3 in the morning session whilst the Division 1 and 4 in the second late morning session.

All knock-out quarterfinal, semifinal and final matches and the special event involving the listeners, deejays and local celebrities of SINAR FM were carried out in the second day of the tournament. The Political Secretary to The Minister of Youth and Sports, Dr. Junaidy Abd Wahab has gracefully officiated the Closing and Prize Giving Ceremony on Sunday.

The Division 2 preliminary round table on the first day was expectedly spearheaded by Team NOMERCY, the fourth round champion in Melaka last August who was the current leader of the 2009 Overall Table. Also checking in to the semifinal rounds are Teams SUNSHIRO from Kuantan, WARRIOR and COBRA MERCENARIES.

In the semifinal, SUNSHIRO defeated WARRIOR whilst COBRA MERCENARIES, who are making a comeback after taking a near one season break, lost easily to NOMERCY. In the final, SUNSHIRO, the Division 3 Overall Champion 2008, gave a good fight until the third deciding match before losing to NOMERCY whilst COBRA MERCENARIES came on top in the deciding third and fourth placed match against WARRIOR that went till the deciding one-on-one game. NOMERCY, besides taking home prizes worth RM5,000.00 as the round champion, were also declared as the MY-NPL Dision 2 Overall Champion for 2009, pocketing RM12,000.00.

In the Division 3, the fourth round champion RAPTOR continued their winning streak, topping the preliminary round table. Their nearest rival to the race to the Division 3 Overall Champion, Team ROUGHNECKS from Johor, however, still able to march to the quarterfinal round in a less-fashionable mean, in the twelvth position, so as to ensure the race heats up.

Nevertheless, fate has met up this two nemesis in the semifinal round whilst the other semifinal was between CMX BUCCANEERS with another team from Johor, OSB PIRATES. RAPTOR defeated ROUGHNECKS in a pulsating duel that lasts until the third deciding game whilst OSB PIRATES defeated CMX BUCCANERRS with ease. With this victory, RAPTOR needs to win their final match let alone hoping for CMX BUCCANEERS to do them favour by beating ROUGHNECKS in the third and fourth placing match.

Nevertheless, luck run out for RAPTOR, losing the final match in the hand of OSB PIRATES and at the same time ROUGHNECKS beat CMX BUCCANEERS in the third and fourth placing match. OSB PIRATES won prizes worth RM4,000.00 as the round champion whilst ROUGHNECKS was pronounced as The 2009 Division 3 champion, pocketing prizes worth RM9.000.00. ROUGHNECKS never won any of the five (5) rounds of MY-NPL 2009 but their consistent performance to be among the podium finisher throughout the year has yielded the success.

In Division 1, DEMONZ RED top the preliminary round table, followed by the Fourth Round Champion NEMESIS LEGION, RASKAL and WOLVERINEZ SINAR FM, to strengthen their position as the four seeded teams coming to the knock out round quarterfinal in Day Two. The crucial match between the top two teams in The Overall Champion Table, NEMESIS LEGION and DELTAROVERS proved to be the pick of the day.

Nonetheless, NEMESIS LEGION was pronounced the Overall Champion of Division1 MY-NPL 2009 the moment they beat with ease DELTAROVERS in the quarterfinal duel, collecting the RM15,000.00 pay cheque. This is NEMESIS LEGION second successive Overall Division 1 Champion after winning the same in 2008, besides winning the Division 2 Overall Champion in 2007.

However, their luck run out in the semifinal round, having lost to RASKAL, who set up the final match for the grand finale against DEMONZ RED, who beat WOLVERINEZ SINAR FM in the other semifinal. In the final, DEMONZ RED quashed aside the challenge of RASKAL by beating them 2-0, the bring home the round chapion prize of RM9,000.00 whilst NEMESIS LEGION are in the third place after beating WOLVERINEZ SINAR FM, also with the same scoreline.

In Division 4, the final preliminary round of Day one of the tournament saw 3 out of 4 teams from south of the peninsula, SHOOT IN RAGE, KARMA from Singapore and JACKALS, conquering the table toppers. The surprise package of Team X-O-DUST, saw them in the first place, the winning streak that they still enjoy until the semifinal round, where they eventually lost to JACKALS, game that could only decided in the third game. SHOOT IN RAGE, meanwhile, marched to the final, holding a reputable record of not having losing even a single match, 12 games in total. SHOOT IN RAGE denies KARMA for a place in final whilst the other semifinal, to set up all-Johor final with JACKALS, which at the end of the day the crown belong to SHOOT IN RAGE whilst X-O-DUST came out victory in the third place.

The Grand Finale also saw the encouraging participation of teams from the public sector like The Immigration Department, Malaysian Highway Authority, Ministry of Tourism, Kuala Selangor Local Council, Forest Research Institute of Malaysia and MARA College of Higher Vocational Skill, as a encouraging sign of the sport development in Malaysia, even we saw that two of these teams managed to place themselves among the top sixteen.

MY-NPL season of 2010 shall begins on 30 and 31 January 2010 and shall continue to provide the platform for the sports development in Malaysia. The International Super Seven Championship (ISSC) scheduled on 22 and 23 May 2010 shall further consolidate the development in Malaysia.

MOHD SOFIAN BIN MOHD DAUD
The Tournament Director
The Malaysian Natioanl Paintball League 2009
016 332 3337 / piandaud@my-npl.org