2002 Paintball World Cup
The 2002 Paintball World Cup was an international paintball tournament held from 19 to 27 October 2002 in Kissimmee, Florida, United States. Promoted by Paintball Sports Promotions (PSP) and sanctioned by the National Professional Paintball League (NPPL), the event featured professional and amateur five-player and ten-player competition, alongside collegiate and professional X-Ball matches.[1]
Chicago Aftershock won the professional ten-player championship and its second team, Aftershock 2, won the professional five-player competition. The event was also the final World Cup jointly associated with PSP and the NPPL before the organisations operated separate national tournament circuits.[1]
Tournament
[edit]The tournament took place on Poinciana Boulevard in Kissimmee, near Orlando.
The five-player competition began on 20 October, with ten-player competition following later in the week.
The event used twelve playing fields and attracted 224 five-player entries, followed by more than 200 ten-player entries.[1]
The 2002 World Cup was the first edition since the introduction of Hyperball to use exclusively inflatable bunkers, without corrugated-pipe fields.
The venue incorporated extensive protective netting, spectator areas, compressed-air filling facilities and a paintball industry exhibition.[1]
Five-player competition
[edit]The five-player tournament concluded on 22 October.
Aftershock 2 won the professional division, finishing ahead of Team Strange, Aftershock 1 and Ground Zero.
Naughty Dogs 1 won the amateur division, while Chronic Platinum won Novice and Formula won Rookie.[1]
Divisional winners
[edit]| Division | Winner |
|---|---|
| Professional | Aftershock 2 |
| Amateur | Naughty Dogs 1 |
| Novice | Chronic Platinum |
| Rookie | Formula |
Professional final standings
[edit]| Position | Team |
|---|---|
| 1 | Aftershock 2 |
| 2 | Team Strange |
| 3 | Aftershock 1 |
| 4 | Ground Zero |
Ten-player competition
[edit]The ten-player tournament concluded on 26 October.
Chicago Aftershock won the professional championship, defeating the Ironmen in the final round.
San Diego Dynasty finished second overall, with the Ironmen sharing third place with Bad Company according to the final rankings reported by WARPIG.[1]
Divisional winners
[edit]| Division | Winner |
|---|---|
| Professional | Chicago Aftershock |
| Amateur | Trauma |
| Novice | Cartel |
| Rookie | Momma's Boys |
Professional final standings
[edit]| Position | Team |
|---|---|
| 1 | Chicago Aftershock |
| 2 | San Diego Dynasty |
| 3 | Ironmen |
| 4 | Bad Company (American paintball team) |
Amateur championship
[edit]Trauma won the amateur ten-player championship.
The victory completed an undefeated five-event NPPL season for the team, which had also won the Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago and Atlantic City tournaments.
Trauma had previously won the amateur championship at the 2001 World Cup, giving the team consecutive World Cup victories.[1]
NPPL season championships
[edit]The World Cup concluded the 2002 NPPL national season.
| Classification | Season champion |
|---|---|
| Professional | Ironmen and San Diego Dynasty |
| Amateur | Trauma |
| Novice | KAPP Factory |
| Rookie | Static AKA |
The Ironmen and Dynasty finished tied on professional ranking points.
Tournament organiser Jerry Braun ruled that the teams would share the professional season championship rather than applying a further tiebreaker.[1]
X-Ball competition
[edit]The 2002 World Cup incorporated additional competition using the developing X-Ball format.
Professional and collegiate X-Ball events were held alongside the traditional five-player and ten-player tournaments.
The format used timed, multi-point matches rather than the conventional single-game scoring system.
The introduction of X-Ball formed part of PSP's plans for a new tournament structure in 2003.[1]
Sunday Drivers premiere
[edit]The paintball documentary Sunday Drivers premiered during the tournament.
Produced by Patrick Spohrer and Bryon Benini through Division One Productions, the film followed professional paintball teams and players.
The premiere took place at Sun On The Beach in Kissimmee, with approximately 500 advance copies made available during the World Cup.[1]
Equipment exhibition
[edit]The World Cup included a trade exhibition featuring paintball equipment manufacturers and distributors.
Pursuit Marketing Inc. promoted its Evil equipment range, including the Omen electronic marker.
Other manufacturers exhibited electronic markers, compressed-air equipment, loaders and accessories.
The tournament also introduced compressed-air filling facilities capable of supplying pressures up to 5,000 psi.[1]
See also
[edit]- Paintball World Cup
- National Professional Paintball League
- Paintball Sports Promotions
- Chicago Aftershock
- San Diego Dynasty
- Ironmen
- Trauma
- Sunday Drivers
- 2001 NPPL World Cup