Team Paint Mechanix, which has been representing the nation for over nine years, is gearing up to participate in the Paintball World Cup 2017 in Pattaya, Thailand from December 1 to 3. According to the team, paintball, as a professional sport, is extremely popular across the world and they say that it can be compared to games like rugby and surfing, in terms of the TRP rating.
Apart from this, paintball, which is a contra-style game, is also getting popular in India, as it is also considered as a corporate training exercise that can help in increasing the efficiency, team work, leadership, strategy and good communication.
In a chat with us, N. Naveen, who’s the president of Indian Paintball Federation, and the captain of the team, Bharat Rajasekar, speak about the sport, its misconceptions and their future plans.
Bharat Rajasekar
“I wish to make it clear that paintball is not a recreational sport; it’s a recreational tool for corporate team building and stuff. There are two versions of the game: one is called the wood’s ball in which you play by going to the jungle with the guns and the other version of the game is called speed ball which has inflatable bunkers and certain style of setup,” Naveen starts the conversation.
He quickly adds, “The popularity of this sport, across the world, is unbelievable. It may not be an Olympic sport because of a lot of issues, but there are about 500 teams in the US and 625 teams in Germany. We’ve, so far, played against 40 odd countries.”
Speaking about the team and how it has evolved over the years, Naveen says, “We recruit people, we train them and make sure that every year, there are at least five to six of us participating in tournaments. But all of this has been a struggle because the sport has not been thrown in the right light. But if you check out our videos participating in international tournaments, you’ll be surprised at how intense it is.”
In fact, in last year’s Paintball World Cup Asia in Malaysia, the team was placed number six in the world and was very close to getting into the Quarter Finals. This year, a team of 12 players will be competing in Thailand and their target is to get into the top three.
Team India in action
Naveen also feels that there are certain misconceptions about paintball and he addresses a few of them — “Many just think that paintball is only recreational and that there aren’t many takeaways from it. But I’ve to tell you, this sport is effective when it comes to anger management. It’s an aggressive sport, but it’s all about controlling and channelising your emotions in the right way.”
Meanwhile, Bharat is pumped about the upcoming tournament and states, “This is a big deal for us as we have been working to play in the World Cup. We made it to the Asia Cup quarter finals last year, but this year it is completely different. The Indian Paintball Federation has been making sure that we get the best equipment and proper playing conditions for practice. We now have a facility for professional paintball in India and this is exactly why we are motivated to win and are hoping the whole of India watches while we do!”
On a concluding note, Naveen speaks about their future plans. “We’re in talks to start celebrity league, corporate league, college league and a normal league; we want to reach as many people as possible!” he signs off.
