Thank you...

I will end the final segment of the APIT 2009 with a word of thanks to the following people:

1) Arthur Chang - Our beloved Taiwanese import who stood by us even though we had a pretty shaky lineup. Arthur offered his help to the team unconditionally by allowing us to make his home a players village, ferrying us from the airport and around taoyuan, a great host who brought us around looking for food, helping us to buy our train tickets back from Kao Hsiung, arranging for the team's registration, etc. You have certainly make us feel very welcome in Taiwan. THANK YOU!

2) Organizers of the APIT 2009 - Although there were some minor screw ups but all is good. It is definitely a hard task organizing a paintball tournament not to mention a paintball tournament of this scale. After months and months of preparing, I think the organizers have done well this time. They are more prepared as compared to last year and they are more organized too. of course, with a better accommodation arrangement as compared to last year would render a 10/10 for the team. THANK YOU!

3) Marshals - Its not easy I guess, teams speaking in different languages hurling vulgarities, surely they can easily pick up some free language lessons. Its a tough job and we all know. THANK YOU!

4) Our Taiwan friends - This tournament will be just any other tournament if not for your hospitality and support. You have supported us from the sidelines during our games, you have given words of encouragement and you have made us feel welcome. Steven, Clarie, Alan, Fon Jen, Pony, Bronco, Alan, Mingzhe, Devon, Ellen, Peter, Rex, Zhi Zhong, Shan, Chiu, the KU gang. THANK YOU!

Asia Paintball Invitational Tournament (APIT) 2009

Its confirmed! This event will be held from 16 - 19 July 09 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Last year, when Red Sevens attended this tournament, we were told that it was a prelude event to the World Games in which paintball would be considered as demo-game for this year's World Games event. And so... when we heard the news that the APIT will be organized again, we were thrilled... With the start of the World Games 2009 on 16 July 09, the Kaohsiung city will be flooded with athletes from around the world making this event even more significant than last year's. When we received the invitation to participate in April this year, we were pretty skeptical that this event will not pull through but we were proven wrong. It seems like the Kaohsiung city committee like what they saw last year.

So, yes... Red Sevens will be attending this year's APIT again. I am sure we will see the likes of Infernal from Thailand and KU from Japan who were there last year. Adding to the list of the participating teams, could be Ironmen from US and Incarnate from Canada. S+S which is our favourite team from Taiwan could well be representing Taiwan for this tournament too. Taiwan is special to the Red Sevens, we spent a good time in Taiwan last year, met a lot of people, made a lot of friends, eat a lot of good food (fish sperms) and this is what paintball is all about. Fun and meeting new people everytime you go for a tournament.

So Kaohsiung, here we come...

Asia Paintball Invitation Tournament (APIT) 2008 - Team Ku (Japan) and Red Sevens (Singapore)

What a weekend in Taiwan!

Met the nicest people from the Taiwan paintball scene with superb company, a superb tournament and superb hospitality. The photographs from the previous entry says it all, a wonderful weekend. Spent most of the time travelling from KL to Taipei, from Taipei to Taichung, from Taichung to Kao Hsiung, travel travel travel...but hey, I am not complaining simply because the travelling group was fun to be with. Khaine from Team Ku always got something up his sleeves...talking about girls, looking at girls, admiring about girls. Look at those roaming eyes!!! Team Ku is no stranger to the regional tournament scene, a regular of the PALS series, a regular of the World Cup events, we have seen them in action, we have greeted them during events but this is the closest we got to them since knowing them.

As Dye sponsored teams, Red Sevens and Ku is somewhat similar in some ways: 1) we have "ang mo" playing in our team, 2) we have a female player in the team (Elle and Michiko), 3) we are always short of people to play. But when it comes to paintball skills, we are no where near them. But that's besides the point, the point is....through this tournament, we have foster an excellent relationship with one another. It does help that we have very good friends in Taiwan who were able to bridge our language barrier.

Allow me to introduce our 3 "foreign imports" of the tournament:

1) Arthur Chang - Just 3 letters to describe this guy, "ABC". Looks chinese, speaks chinese...but when you hear him speaks English, you know he is an American, strong accent. Wonderful guy who hosted Ku and us at his place, cooked (well his maids actually...) us nice porkchops, bought us nice bubble tea and helped us to oversee lots of logistics and adminstrative issues both on and off the field. If there is one thing that we have learnt from this trip, it will be adopting Arthur's ability to plan for game strategies and game lineup. Can you imagine waking up at 5 am to type the team's lineup so that everyone is aware of when they are playing? For that...you get an "A" grade.

2) Fonjen - Pronounced as "Kite" in mandarin. Initially, I thought what a good nick... but it turns out that "Kite" is his real name. So lame... Anyway, this is the second time I have seen this guy. The first time was from the Ollie Lang clinic in Taiwan. If I can remember correctly, I did not speak to him back then...but hell I should! This is one of the most approachable guy... Talk to him about anything in the world and he will surely share his own personal views. But that is not the most amazing this about this guy... when I attended Gary Shows Hybrid Paintball Clinic 2 years ago, there is this famous saying from him "Always have 2 of everything when you are competing" The idea is to always have a spare equipment, just in case the primary one is faulty or having what we always call "a paintball period", one minute it is working and the next minute it goes faulty.

Fonjen not only has 2 of everything...he has TONS of everything. When I mean by that, this is just a list of things he brought to APIT: 10 squeeges, 5 markers, 7 HPA tanks, 2 harnesses, 70 pods. That's basically the equipment needed for a 5 man team! But that is just the beginning, he has in total more than 40 over markers and 80 over barrels...He is the army!

3) Pony - Dubbed as one of the best front player in Taiwan. Pony plays for Team Shocker in Taiwan. When I first heard that Pony will be playing with us, I was very excited because the last time I saw him snapshoot, it was thinking "Does he ever gets tired?". At the age of 37, Pony doesnt look anywhere near his age...fast he can be, versatile he is... I was playing his back during the tourney and in all the games that we played, I will surely asked him at the starting frame "Pony, where are you going?"...and he always reply..."It depends". Can you imagine backing someone who has no intended direction? That's how versatile he is...one minute, he is playing as a back player, and the next, you will see him in the dorito... it was a challenge for me to play his back as I am always on a lookout of where he is. Pony gave me his Shocker jersey at the end of the tourney...it was a good gesture and I certainly look forward to playing with him again.

So there you go, 3 of our "foreign imports"... Respect!