TOURNAMENT
PAINTBALLX
TOURNAMENT
that the event is normally held has other uses for Disney ’ s rebuild plan . So venue wise it ’ s any body ’ s guess .
This year ’ s event went back to the old schedule of events and did not start early that it had in the past couple of years . This was a good thing due to the disagreeable French weather . The event spectators and teams were blessed with prime paintball weather and no rain . Perfect for the season opener . One changed that left some quite unhappy . The EPBF decided to hold the U19 event in Puget-Sur-Argens instead of leaving it for the final event as it had before . This left federations scrambling to hold tryouts , find hotels , visas for some and flights for the players for this event . There were only five teams this year : Norway , Russia , Germany , France and Great Britain . Last year 10 teams participated , maybe due to the change in dates for the EPBF U19 Championships could have played a significant factor for only five teams this time around . The last Championship event for the season will be for the first time a true World Paintball Championship with several countries and federations around the world . One of the highlights for the event was the premier of the Art Chaos Moscow tent along with their new mascot , Artos . The purple cat roamed the sidelines , the exhibitor area and was even seen hugging Chad Bouchez during the Art Chaos signing at the GI Sportz tent . Artos instantly became a hit and everyone wanted a photo with him . He might have become more popular than the team in Puget ! We were told that Artos would be making the rounds at all of the events .
An unusual scheduling in Puget was that the CPL teams started at 8 am and ran throughout the day . Reason for this was to be able to hold and complete the U19 matches . With three new teams from outside of Europe this season would be a greater challenge not to mention more exciting . Most teams , players and spectators don ’ t normally get the chance to see such
Photos by Ami Helge
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PAINTBALLX