From 05.14.99 to 05.16.99, OPM hosted the first 5 MAN ZAP EUROPEAN AMATEUR OPEN.  Seventy teams from all over Europe fought on 5 Supair-fields for the European Amateur title.  Even teams not from Europe played there, some which included Bushwackers from the USA and Rage from South Africa to name a few.

        This tournament was played over a span of 3 days.  On the first two days the teams had to qualify for the finals.  The first 20 teams with the highest scores played in the Amateur finals. Places 21 to 40 had to watch the last games. : (
 

The marshalls from the UK and Germany guaranteed fair games.

In the finals most of the teams showed that paintball in Europe achive is nearly the same level as paintball in the States.

        The teams showed no mercy in the finals and fought as hard as they could.  Thousands of balls were shot (the paintballs were specially produced for the tournament). You can’t buy these paint in any paintball store. The teams played with ZAP Pro European, but this balls had a much more brittle shell than the normal Pro European. The balls flew straight, broke easily and marked very well.

On Saturday there was a huge Player‘s party with a XXX-rated Show (for the adults) and a paint eating contest. The guy who won the contest eat nearly 100 paintballs.

The Amateur was won by the Bushwackers from USA, followed by Endurance from Belgium, Rage from South Africa, the Daltons from Austria and the Mercs from Austria.

        The Mohowkins from the UK won the Novice division, followed by No Maam from Germany, Nervous Trigger from Germany and La Famille from France. The France team played only with pumps and they beat a lot of teams with Angels and Turbo Shockers. They proved that winning depends on the player not on the gun

The winner of the One on One contest Kim Ovrid from NBK from Norway, who won a 99‘ Brass Eagle Rainmaker.

        At the finals the Bushwackers handed their prize for the first place (a ZAP sponsor) to the next team. So the first price went to the second placed team, the price for the second placed team to the third placed and so on.

Next year, OPM will hold the 2‘nd annual ZAP EUROPEAN AMATEUR OPEN and this time, the event will get larger, with more teams, and more fields.

Hope to see you all next year on this amazing event.

Robert "Jeff" Handler
MPN Columnist - Austria
Team MERCS