Babak Esmaeily

Babak Esmaeily (Persian: بابک اسماعیلی) is an Iranian paintball player and coach. He captained Datis, led the team to the Division 1 title at the 2011 Paintball World Cup Asia, and was named head coach of Iran's national team for the 2014 Nations Cup.[1][2][3]

Datis

Datis's player profiles, archived on 30 April 2007, list Esmaeily as captain and a back player wearing number 1. In a 2010 interview with ProPaintball.com, teammate Aco Amir credited Esmaeily and Reza Badrian with creating Datis and named both as his mentors.[1][4]

At the 2011 Paintball World Cup Asia in Langkawi, Malaysia, Esmaeily captained Datis as it retained the Division 1 title. Datis beat Australia's STK 3–2 in the semi-final and South Africa's Reaper 4–1 in the final on 13 November. Bernama's tournament report identified him as the team's leader under the spelling Babak Datis Esmaily.[2][5]

National team and administration

Datis's website identifies Esmaeily as a member of the Asia-Pacific Paintball Confederation and records him signing its launch memorandum during the opening ceremony of World Cup Asia 2006 in Kuala Lumpur.[6]

In February 2007, BBC Persian introduced Esmaeily as the captain of Iran's men's paintball team in a feature that also interviewed women's captain Behnaz Foroutan. In 2011, the Iran Paintball Association named Esmaeily and Reza Shahran in its announcement of a rules briefing ahead of the opening round of the Iran National Paintball League season in Rasht.[7][8]

The European Paintball Federation's annual report lists Esmaeily as Iran's coach at the 2013 Paintball World Cup in Chantilly, France. In 2014, the Iran Paintball Association identified him as Datis's manager and coach and named him head coach of the national squad selected for that year's Nations Cup.[3][9]

Interviews

On 29 December 2020, Esmaeily joined Aco Amir and Nima Razavi on Overshot: A Paintball Podcast to discuss competitive paintball in Iran.[10]

See also

• Iranian paintball
• Iran Paintball Association

References

1. Datis Paintball, main player profiles, archived 30 April 2007.
2. Bernama, “Datis Retain WCA Paintball Title”, 13 November 2011, reproduced by Villain Paintball on 14 November 2011.
3. Iran Paintball Association, announcement of the national team for the 2014 Nations Cup, archived 4 November 2014. Persian.
4. ProPaintball.com, “Player of the Week: Aco Amir”, 9 March 2010, reproduced by JR Dominguez 32 Paintball on 10 March 2010.
5. Datis Paintball, Langkawi player lists, 18 November 2011, archived 24 May 2012.
6. Datis Paintball, World Cup Asia 2006 and confederation memorandum photograph, archived 23 February 2007.
7. BBC Persian, “پینت بال” (“Paintball”), 4 February 2007. Persian.
8. Iran Paintball Association, announcement of the opening INPL round in Rasht, archived 10 October 2011. Persian.
9. European Paintball Federation, 2013 Annual Report, World Cup results and national team rosters, pp. 24–26.
10. Overshot: A Paintball Podcast, episode 68, “Iranian paintball with Datis paintball team”, 29 December 2020.