Ben 'Todo' is the Captain of the KL Demonz who played in Paris 2 weeks ago and as you might have already read in my previous interview with Matthew- they made history in Malaysian Paintball and came back with 2 trophies.
I wanted to get the Captain's perspective on the tournament and Ben also revealed to me that the 'victory' over the Bullets was a walk over rather than a real match. Ben also graciously spent time describing the tournament in detail.
Hi Ben, thank you for taking the time out to do this interview. Can you tell us what were your realistic expectations going to Paris to play in the ICC Continental Cup and the Millennium Series?
To be honest, we have little hopes in both the ICC as well as the Div3 in Millennium. Simply because the Europeans are far more experienced and exposed to the game than us. Moreover, with the recent shortage of players in the team, we were more like banking to get experiences and exposures.
Ben is the first on the left with the mic.
To bring back 2 cups is fantastic for the Demonz and Malaysian Paintball. With all the best teams in their respective continents in the competition, on paper it would be a tough event. How different were the two competitions?
ICC was tough and to finish 4th was way too unexpected for us…we did this with LUCK!
Div 3 was no pushover either and we made it to the quarterfinals of the Activision Cup by very close points but I guessed we hit some form during the quarters and made it to the final. The final game was very close indeed with the RATS and it could have gone either way.
Was it hard for you guys to juggle two tournaments on the same weekend? Did the games overlap?
The schedule was near perfect, no overlapping of games between the ICC and the regular Millennium games.
In your opinion- how did you find the standard of European paintball like compared to Malaysia ? I asking this because my team mates were at the PSP in Chicago 2 weeks ago and Ryan said he thought the best D3 teams in Malaysia could play D3 in PSP which is surprising but a welcome comment. You guys did well in D3 but the other Malaysian team MacDev Ronin struggled to win in D2.
I would say that the Div 3 in Europe are close to our Div 1 in Malaysia….like I said earlier, the standard of paintball in Europe is far more superior than in Malaysia simply because they started young and have more exposure & experience.
How did it feel to beat the Budapest Bullets? Was it their full team? Did you guys plays against Ollie and Mr U?
We were lucky to beat them as they concede a walk over to us in the quarterfinals :D thus the score is 4-0. this is because 2 of their players were injured and would rather concentrate on the CPL.
What did the Europeans do that is different from what we do in Malaysia - in terms of preparation and playing the game?
I guess the Europeans are more disciplined in their trainings? They have more Pro teams around and get more tips & guidance compared to Malaysians, maybe not just Malaysians but Asians which are very useful, not forgetting the clinics they get from Pro European Teams like Icon, Syndicate, JOY to name a few.
With triple the amount of teams / divisions / and running 2 competitions at the same time. It must have been a logistical nightmare for the organisers to run them all on time and yet they did. Your comments on that? Was it a well organised and scheduled event?
No doubt they ran the schedules PERFECTLY!! Even when I was there, I was like scratching my head how could they do it in 3 days with so many teams and games?! Well, I could sum up few points why they could do it:
1) They have more hours; sky gets dark only at 10pm (8am – 10pm is 14hours, compares to our tournament, we only have 8hours (8am – 6pm)
2) They have 5 fields vs 2 or 3 fields (in Malaysia )
3) There are 2 air fill stations at each field!
What was it like to play in the new air filled fields?
Did u mean the Air Filled Pillars fields? They have 2 fields using the air-filled pillars; the CPL field & SPL field…the other 3 fields used normal metal pillars/posts juts like our local fields…..all the fields are laid with turf…so there’s practically no difference in terms of playing.
Hanging out at the vendors area with Matthew and some guy called Chris Lasoya
What were the highlights of the trip- apart from taking second and fourth in the ICC?
Oh THE LOUVRE…Miss Mona Lisa…The Eiffel Tower !!
Can you tell us about the vendors especially the famous JT VIP booth? Edi mentioned that the vendors booths were big especially Dye's.
The bigger vendors like JT, Smart Parts, DYE, Planet Eclipse all have big booths and even have tables & chairs for everyone to sit down and chill. Kingman has its shooting range for the new Chasers. Basically the booths themselves were cool but the problem were the prices (in Euro…we have to multiply with 5, DAMN!)
Thank you Ben and congratulations once again.
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