WCA Report.

Ok I've taken sometime to write this sorry for the delay. But I'm trying to be really careful so my words will not be taken out of context and or insult something unintentionally.

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The Red Sevens had a great World Cup this year with a lot of good games scoring wins from stronger teams like the D'Mercy Kids and DemonsX whom I rate highly.

With 7 wins, 3 losses and one draw with PPS - the Red Sevens qualified in 6th place going into Sunday which is a big improvement from last year when we could only manage 4 wins and did not qualify.

In the group stages we had a good chance as we were in the same group as D'Mercy Kids, Goober and new comers from Sarawak PPS Syndrome. We were optimistic and hoping to bring in the same form we had on Friday. But we lost to the Kids- in a good fight- taking 3 of them before going down. We needed a win against goober because PPS took the Kids by surprise and scored what I thought was a brilliant victory.

So Kids, PPS and us all had 1 loss each going into our second game. We needed to beat Goober but we lost and we were out of the tournament. We played PPS in our last game and it went down to a draw.

The Red Sevens had a good time with good wins and close fights - there were highs and there were lows over the weekend. I think the two Kids who came with us also had a great time and scored a couple of crucial last man wins against DemonsX and PPS Headhunters.

Ryan has a good time playing with all the different guns from Egos, GEOS and PMR to DM8s and the Ollie Lang DM8. His verdict - the DM8 over the Ego.

Big shout out to Zach who came out with us for the first time - bagged us at least 3-4 victories and generally being a great kid with easy going and positive attitude.

Big Ben had a couple of big games with his Ollie Lang gun - it was exciting to watch him play with that DM8.

Jane was the crowd favourite - easily recognisable on the field – especially when playing Palti whom she shot out.

And lastly great friend AND someone whom I am very proud to call my teammate - Azlan who has the most drive and determination and always the stalwart of the team. You will be very missed by all of us you will always be a red in our hearts.

My highlight of the weekend was meeting up and making friends especially with Palti the Goober guys and "Coach" Rony from Java Genies and props to Reuben from Hoodlums who went to the quarters for their first time. You guys did great Reuben don’t let that one point take anything away from your achievement.

It was really good to have a friend in Kiko who came around to cheer us up and talk to us. Palti really moved me when he said to his team that the Red Sevens are Goober's Brothers.

CONGRATULATIONS
Warmest congratulations to Kiko and Real Pinoys for taking 1st place in D2. You guys lost "that game" but you won the bigger prize - so Kiko your positive attitude went true for you guys too.

Congratulations also to the Sarawakian teams and marshalls. It was REALLY GOOD to see 4 teams from my home state of Sarawak AND not forgetting the two guys also who came over to marshall MAHA POWER :) Congratulations to PPS Syndrome who made it into the second Round in their first major tournament and even managing to take a game away from D'Mercy Kids. You guys did awersomely well.


THANK YOUs
The Marshalling was excellent - not many hard calls- firm but fair was the policy on the Dye field and I think all the D3 teams had good games with not too many disputes. I for one found it much easier to play compared to previous world cups when the marshalling was a bit too strict and less experienced teams were heavily penalised.

There is also one obvious factor in this tournament, which was PLAYER SAFETY - I felt that the playing field at the WCA was much safer with the standard of marshalling that was on hand. I would like to thank the Australian head ref who make the tournament all that much more fun to play in. Thank yous to Junaidi and Ulrich and all the Refs for all your hard work.

The vendors' support was great- the best ever- I guess it had to make up for the absence of some of the Pros. All the big shops turned up and set up big tents and there were lots to see and buy. Tech support from Dye, Eclipse and MacDev was superb and I thank all the factory guys who came all the way from San Diego (Dye) and Sydney (MacDev) to help us out.

Thank you to Magued from bringing your legendary Joy team to Malaysia - I watched almost all the Joy games and they were brilliant to watch in full flight.

Congratulations to Infernal of Thailand for taking D1. I had a great time watching them play - they are an awesome team. And also my congratulations to Alan Lian, Terry and the rest of Team Ronin too- you guys did really well - you guys carried the Malaysian flag well in D1.

My only beef was the mud - which was to be expected at this time of the year. And I'd like to give the food vendors a break by not charging them an arm and a leg so more food vendors would come next time with more variety and not having to charge RM2.50 for a drink.

Thank you to the pros who traveled all the way from Europe - Patrick Wrobel from Syndicate and Stephane Brun from the TonTons ;) it was great to see you guys again.

I want to thank the tech guys- Airman- who despite having problems on Friday - you did a great job to keep the queues at the air station down.

Also like to thank Badman! - For always being around at the right time to put in a good word and also for listening to my suggestion to put a table in the chrono tent so we didn't have to put our markers in the mud after we chronoed.

Thanks to MR Allan ‘Ping Pong' Phang who ran around getting things sorted and getting our photos on our ID cards and lending his jersey to a certain TonTon so I did have the pleasure of watching him play a game.

Finally thanks to Paul Lam who grew a couple more white hairs over the weekend but I'd like to say your efforts, your hard work and your perseverance were very much appreciated by this humble D3 team who had a great time at the World Cup Asia.