My NPL Grand Finale.

This weekend (Saturday and Sunday) is filled with a healthy activity for me. Its sports and its paintball again. Oops can I say it as again because this is the only sport I play now at this age. I do not play any other sports now and some people might wonder why of all the games to be chosen from, I opted for paintball, an extreme sports suitable for young people due to its energy demand and one need to be very agile to play. I just don't know the answer myself but my first involvement, at first just to get the taste, turn out to be addiction.

On both days I was at MAPAAC, ASTAKA in Petaling Jaya to shoot paints. This time around its not just the ordinary paint shooting but the Final Leg of the MY NPL Paintball Paintball League. With this participation its my third time participating  in one of the major paintball league in Malaysia. My first participation was the first leg  followed by the 4th leg in Malacca. On both previous leg I play with my own team, YAKUZA and only during the first leg we made it to the sweet sixteen out of 28 teams. Considered not bad since our team were formed not even a month before, that is during the Advertlets Paintball tournament for bloggers. On top of  that three of us are first timers playing paintball.

This time around only me and Yakuza team captian, Marcus played with Feva Division as invited players. The   teams performance can be considered as quite excellent since the team is a first timer with My NPL eventhough they have been playing the sports for sometimes and had entered the ISSC Super Seven earlier this year.

During the preliminary round we played six games and won four. We lost to experience teams of BPMB Espada anda XO Dust. Feva division managed to get ninth placing and proceed to the sweet sixteen. For sweet sixteen, sixteen teams will play best of three back to back. With our rank in the prelim we meet eighth placing Dominators. This team was also one of the team that played with us (YAKUZA) during the Advertlets   Tournament and emerged seconnd runners-up while we YAKUZA first runners-up.

Sunday, game-on is at 8.00 so I was up early so that I can arrive at the venue early. We were supposed to arrive by the latest 7.30 so that we can get prepared before the game starts. Marcus sent me an SMS reminder at 6.10 a.m. I was already awake by then and had already performed my Suboh prayer. It was so lucky that it was not raining or else it will be quite a problem for me since I have to travel on motorbike.

When I arrive at the players paddock, nobody from the team was present and it was already past 7.00 o'clock. In my mind, hmmm....I thought only Malays follow jam Melayu. LOL.

It was so sweet that we beat Dominators two game straight. I sit out the first game and played the second. One by one was eliminated and in the end I and Verat were left standing. I was playing the dorito side and when I move up only to find that it was both of us were left. Verat signalled me to grab the flag and I coundn't believe myself that I can run back to our gate because I knew my fitness level.  

With that win we move on to sweet eight or the quarter final and face a Singaporean side, Karma. I sit out the first game and played the second. Feva D beat Karma in the first game but lost the second and third. With that we fail to move on to the semi final and a podium finish. Its all about sports, there is always winning and  losing. I see that Feva Division played well but just lady luck was not on our side.

Sports is about health and fitness. And Sports and tobacco does not mix. During my first participation in the first My NPL, in February, one I notice is that the organiser is strict about players smoking in the players paddock and they even dedicate a corner for smokers. However this time around, I felt so uneasy being at the players paddock players smokes freely even though there is a clear signage reminding of NO SMOKING INSIDE. The same  situation also happened during the Malacca league. I hope the organiser should enforce that they preach. Smoking is the the right of the individual but when there is clear restriction everyone should observe the rules. There are many players and myself included who are not smokers who feel uneasy with free smokes and please respect our choice who choose to be smoke free too.