WCA 2009 - Rants

World Cup Asia, supposedly the LARGEST and most anticipated paintball event in Asia, has ended. Does it live up to all the hype and expectations? YES and NO.

First the NO part - Expensive paint, terrible field condition, and a venue which could be better improved.

Firstly, the paint costs us RM235 a box. Why so expensive?!?! In the MY-NPL, the price is below RM200 per box. Even the ISSC, also an international event, sells paint at only RM190 per box. In the Xtion forum, the organisers posted that WCA is an international event, hence they have to charge more. WTF!!

The second thing is the super muddy field. It was so muddy that Kok said as if he was "swimming" when playing the snake.


Seriously, as Asia's LARGEST paintball event, the field could have been in a better shape. They could have picked another venue, it's not like they didn't know that the Xtion field will be super muddy during this time of the year. Next year's MPOC will have all legs played in Xtion. I won't be going to any of the events after seeing how bad it was at the WCA.


Another turn-off about the venue is the security. People could go in and out of the players paddock at anytime of the day, players or non-players. They do have the whole area surrounded by netting and ID tags need to be shown at the entrance to gain entry. But the netting was not properly put up. Anyone could just lift the net and walk straight through, in which case the guards at the entrance are just for show. Come on, they could at least tie the nets to the ground. And speaking of ID tags, they didn't come lanyards. This might not be a big issue, but HELLO... this is LARGEST paintball event in Asia!

One last thing, the refs. They are really hardworking and friendly people, but they could made a more noticeable call. There was one game where I was hit and didn't notice, which was a norm in tournaments. It was on my knee pad off the break, not a very obvious hit. One of the ref saw the hit and called me out with a voice so soft no one can barely hear him amidst all the firing. He called again and again and again, still too soft for anyone to notice. Then after quite a while, he finally he ran over and pulled me out, 1 for 1 for playing on. His call was by all means a fair one, I did played on after getting shot, albeit a not so obvious hit. But if he could have ran over and pulled me out straight instead of standing at the sidelines calling. I got hit on the break, and managed to get all the way to the 50 before he pulled me out! Imagine that! If he really did called loud enough, I wouldn't have gone so far down the field without hearing him. Other than this particular case, the refs at WCA are great and did their jobs well.


Whew... that was quite a lot of complaints. Normally I would just shrug off any dissatisfaction, but since this is the LARGEST paintball event in Asia (again), I guess it's ok to complain about even the teeniest issue. After all, we did pay quite a large sum for the registration fee...

This is all for now. Now that I've written about all the NO-s, the next post will be all about the YES-es!