PAINTBALL BONDS THE COMMUNITY
Changing the perspectives of a war game into a sport
28th September 2011 - The Finale of the Singapore Paintball Series 2011 – My Buona Vista Cup will be held on 8th and 9th October 2011 at East Coast Park. Established in 2008, the Singapore Paintball Series has now more than 400 registered players with the youngest participant – a student at the age of 16 years old and the eldest participant being a Union leader at the age of 50 years old. All participants compete on equal grounds within their divisions regardless of age and gender.
Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, MG(NS) Chan Chun Sing will be gracing the event as the Guest of Honour. In support of Minister Chan’s initiative for Vision 2030, a platform to gather feedback and suggestions to formulate a master plan for the sporting scene in Singapore, local paintball enthusiasts voiced their concerns about the development of paintball in Singapore in a Strait Times report in July. While at the event, Minister Chan will witness an exhibition game between the SPS All-Stars, comprising of local players, and an International All-Stars side with overseas players from Malaysia paintball teams, Xtioneers and Demonz, who are both ranked as Division 1 teams in the paintball scene. The exhibition game will be organized in the Race-to format which is a popular format in the US and many European countries. Ben Seow who is the series Tournament Promoter exclaimed: “This sport is gaining popularity amongst Singaporeans and in Asia. Teams work together to strategize game plans to counter opposing teams and in the process help the team to bond and foster camaraderie.
The Singapore Paintball Series has grown from a league of 7 teams in 2008 to a league of 36 teams in 2011. The unwavering passion of the sports has brought many players from 2008 to 2011, still competing in paintball and promoting the sports of paintball. In the few years of the development by Singapore Paintball Series, an official refereeing body has been formed to provide an international standard of paintball refereeing in Singapore similar to regional countries. The Singapore Paintball Series is also affiliated to and a promoting partner with the Paintball Asia League Series (PALS) which is Asia’s most recognized paintball series. PALS has a network of promoting partners across more than 10 Asia Pacific countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Australia, China, Indonesia, Singapore, India, Japan and Taiwan. PALS will be organizing Asia’s biggest paintball tournament on 10-13 November this year – the World Cup Asia – which will be attended by more than 140 paintball teams from across 30 nations. The Paintball World Cup Asia is a strongly endorsed sport event by the Malaysia government and Forbes Billionaire, CEO of Air Asia, Tony Fernandez who will be participating in the event. Singapore will be represented by 14 Singaporean paintball teams across 3 divisions out of the 4 in World Cup Asia 2011 in Langkawi, Malaysia.
“Since I started playing paintball in 2008, I have become more socially engaged with people who are older than me. The demographic of participants is wide and comes from all walks of life. In the team that I am playing for, we have a graphic designer, a professional golfer, a veterinarian’s assistant, a university student and dance instructor, said Mr. Gerald Lee, 21 who is working as surveyor for an oil company.
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