2003 PSP Los Angeles Open
The 2003 PSP Los Angeles Open was a tournament paintball event held from 5 to 9 March 2003 at the Los Angeles County Fairplex in Pomona, California, United States. Organised by Paintball Sports Promotions (PSP), it was the opening event of the 2003 PSP professional and amateur series.[1][2]
The tournament included five-player and ten-player competition, the first Division 1 and Division 2 X-Ball tournament of the PSP season, and the second round of the inaugural National Xball League (NXL) season.[1][2]
The Naughty Dogs won the professional ten-player competition. Team Strange won Division 1 X-Ball, while Strange 2 won Division 2.[1][2]
Venue
For 2003, PSP moved the Los Angeles Open from the SC Arenas to the Los Angeles County Fairplex. The tournament occupied the grass infield of the Fairplex's horse-racing track.[1][2]
The venue provided stadium lighting, allowing games to continue after sunset. Player staging and vendor displays were situated beneath permanent awnings in the paved fairgrounds area.[1][2]
Because the racetrack remained in use for training thoroughbred horses during the mornings, competition generally began at 10:30 and continued into the evening under the stadium lights.[1][2]
Competition formats
The event was held during a period of transition from established five-player and ten-player tournaments towards X-Ball.
Several teams that had previously competed in professional ten-player tournaments entered X-Ball instead. The professional ten-player division consequently contained seven teams. The Amateur ten-player division had 16 entries, compared with 24 at the previous year's Los Angeles event.[1][2]
The five-player tournament attracted 20 teams: eleven in the Novice division and nine in the Rookie division.[2]
Five-player competition
The five-player preliminary games began on Wednesday, 5 March. The semi-finals and finals were played the following day.[1][2]
CP Factory Team won the Novice division. The deciding game was played against Cross, which had entered the game six points ahead. CP Factory eliminated the opposing players and completed the flag hang to secure the championship.[1][2]
ACI Turmoil won all three of its final-round games to take the Rookie division.[1][2]
Results
| Position | Novice | Rookie |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | CP Factory Team | ACI Turmoil |
| 2 | Cross | Shadow Company |
| 3 | Femmes Fatale | Method |
| 4 | Oregon Outrage | Adrenalin Rush |
Ten-player competition
Ten-player competition began on Friday, 7 March. The professional division advanced directly from the preliminary round to a four-team final, while the Amateur, Novice and Rookie divisions played semi-finals.[1][2]
Professional
The Naughty Dogs and Dynasty both won their opening two final-round games against Legacy and the Bushwackers. The championship was therefore decided by their final meeting.
The Naughty Dogs defeated Dynasty while losing one player during the game. The team had lost 23 players across its preliminary games and eleven during the final round.[1][2]
Legacy defeated the Bushwackers in the remaining final-round game to take third place.[1][2]
| Position | Team |
|---|---|
| 1 | Naughty Dogs |
| 2 | San Diego Dynasty |
| 3 | Legacy |
| 4 | Bushwackers |
Amateur
The Amateur championship was decided by a one-point margin. KAPP Factory defeated Evil Factory 93–14 in their final meeting, leaving Evil Factory with 204 final-round points and KAPP Factory with 203.[1][2]
| Position | Team |
|---|---|
| 1 | Evil Factory |
| 2 | KAPP Factory |
| 3 | Static |
| 4 | Hostile Takeover |
Novice and Rookie
| Position | Novice | Rookie |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Justice | Rock It Kids |
| 2 | Next Level Factory | Mayhem |
| 3 | BC Kids | Cartel Enterprise |
| 4 | Atomix Factory | Outlaws |
Justice won the Novice final with 288 points, ahead of Next Level Factory on 192. Rock It Kids won all three of its Rookie final-round games.[1][2]
X-Ball competition
The Los Angeles Open hosted the first Division 1 and Division 2 X-Ball tournament of the 2003 PSP series.
Division 1 used a round-robin preliminary format followed by single-elimination games. Division 2 used a double-elimination format.[1][2]
Division 1
Team Strange completed the tournament undefeated. In the elimination round, Strange defeated Nasty 12–2 before beating Jax Warriors 7–2 in the championship match.[1][2]
| Position | Team |
|---|---|
| 1 | Team Strange |
| 2 | Jax Warriors |
| 3 | Brimstone Smoke |
| 4 | Nasty |
| 5 | Texas Storm |
Division 2
Strange 2 defeated the Hurricanes 6–3 to reach the championship match. It then defeated Twisted Factory 7–4 to win the division.[1][2]
| Position | Team |
|---|---|
| 1 | Strange 2 |
| 2 | Twisted Factory |
| 3 | Hurricanes |
| 4 | TKO |
| 5 | First Strike |
| 6 | Tippmann Effect |
| 7 | Drive |
| 8 | NCPA Allstars |
National Xball League
The tournament also hosted the second competition of the inaugural NXL season. The participating franchises were the Oakland Assassins, Baltimore Trauma, Los Angeles Ironmen, Miami Effect, Chicago Aftershock, Detroit Thunder, New York Xtreme and Philadelphia Americans.[1][2]
The match between Miami Effect and Detroit Thunder was played beneath the Fairplex stadium lights and was reported as the first night game in NXL history. Miami won 15–8.[1][2]
Oakland remained undefeated during the event. Its results included victories over Baltimore Trauma, New York Xtreme, Detroit Thunder and the Philadelphia Americans, together with a 9–9 draw against Chicago Aftershock.[2]
Other notable results included the Los Angeles Ironmen defeating Chicago Aftershock 12–7, Miami Effect defeating New York Xtreme 12–9 and Chicago defeating Baltimore Trauma 14–10 on the final day.[2]
Significance
The event demonstrated the changing structure of American tournament paintball in 2003. Alongside the established five-player and ten-player competitions, the Los Angeles Open introduced divisional X-Ball to the PSP series and staged matches from the newly formed professional NXL.[1][2]
The small professional ten-player field also prompted discussion about the format's future. Five of the seven participating professional teams reportedly expressed interest in moving to Division 1 X-Ball at later events.[1][2]
See also
- Paintball Sports Promotions
- Los Angeles Open
- National Xball League
- X-Ball
- Naughty Dogs
- Team Strange
- 2003 PSP World Cup
References
- Bill Mills, "PSP Los Angeles Open 2003", Action Pursuit Games, August 2003, pp. 91–102.
- WARPIG, "PSP LA Open 2003", 5–9 March 2003. Contemporary tournament report and results.
- WARPIG, "PSP LA Open 2003: 10 Man Semifinal and Finals Scoreboard".
- WARPIG, "PSP LA Open 2003: Division 1 and 2 X-Ball Scoreboard".