The Road to Tornado Double Victory - Mild Seven Foosball Challenge 2001

Raymond Kan and Ong Poh Seng's first match saw this champion team pitting themselves against Sean Yeap & Thomas Lok. Afterwhich, they played against Edwin Ng & Kelvin Yeang. Meanwhile, Bobby Tham & Eu Hock (Ah Boy) had just scored a win over Raymond Tang & Teik Eng, to meet Raymond Kan & Poh Seng in the next round. Oliver & Mohan had just wrapped their game with Shaun P'ng & Lim Yen Seng to meet Jack Hii and Cyrus Fu.

The fight for the winners bracket saw an intense battle between Oliver & Mohan and Raymong & Poh Seng, with the former coming out on top. Raymond Kan and Poh Seng had to wait for the loser bracket to fight itself out. It was down to the fight for 5th and 6th placing. Jack Hii & Cyrus Fu just managed a very close win over Raymond Tang & Teik Eng to meet Bobby Tham & Eu Hock (Ah Boy) whom had also just managed a win over Shaun P'ng & Lim Yen Seng, to fight for the 3rd/4th placing. Raymond Kan & Poh Seng's wait was over. They dispatched Jack Hii & Cyrus to play in the finals against Oliver & Mohan.

The finals was intense, Raymond & Poh Seng had to beat Oliver & Mohan two sets of best of three games to take the Tornado Double Championship. The first set was easily won by Raymond & Poh Seng, with Raymond stopping Mohan's thunderous and flawless Pull Shot. The last set saw each team winning a game each, which made the next and final game, the critical one for both teams. As Poh Seng fumbles with his Pull shot, Oliver and Mohan pulled a switch with Mohan in the goals and Oliver in the offense. It was a goal for goal match after that!!!

Just as Poh Seng made it 4-3, Oliver delivered a smashing five-men to even the score at 4-4. Poh Seng had his shot blocked on the next serve with Mohan gaining possession. Wisely, Mohan called a time-out. After time-in, Mohan sized up his shot with a rolling push-kick on the two men, rolling the ball up to the second man and delivering a powerful shot towards the goal. The ball hit the goal post centimeters from victory, which allowed Raymond to gain possession on the re-bound and in a quick one-two, delivered the ball into the opponents goal!

The crowd went wild!!! Kudos to the players for giving us this wonderful match to watch which will be remembered down the annals of foosball.

Mild Seven Foosball Challenge 2001 - Results

I have finally tabulated the results with the Prize money. If you want to know where's the money... you have to ask Shaul!!! He is da man this year with a total winnings of RM4750. Edgar Phang follows with a total winning of RM2250. Way to go guys!

Champion of Champion

Singles - Shaul (Lowen) RM1000
Doubles - Shaul & Edgar Phang (Lowen) RM2000

Tornado SinglesRM1500 - 1st Joel Michael
RM1000 - 2nd Raymond Tang
RM800   - 3rd Ng Eng HwaiRM600  - 4th Khoo Teng BoonRM400  - 5th Shaun Pn'gRM300  - 6th CM MakRM200  - 7th Jerry ChangRM100  - 8th Bobby Tham

Tornado DoublesRM2500 - 1st Ong Poh Seng & Raymond KanRM2000 - 2nd Mohan Tanabalan & Oliver YongRM1500 - 3rd Jack Hii & Cyrus FuRM1000 - 4th Bobby Tham & Ng Eu Hock (Ah Boy)RM800  - 5th Shaun P'ng & Lim Yen SengRM600   - 6th Raymond Tang & Chin Teik EngRM200  - 7th Ng Eng Hwai & Mohd AriffRM100  - 8th Pietro & Megat

Lowen SinglesRM1500 - 1st ShaulRM1000 - 2nd FirdarusRM800  - 3rd Loo See BeeRM600  - 4th ShaimiRM400  - 5th Syazman

Lowen DoublesRM2500 - 1st Shaul & Edgar PhangRM2000 - 2nd Lai Peng Yue & John ChinRM1500 - 3rd Benny & Win HoongRM1000 - 4th Raymond Fong & Gary JansenRM800  - 5th Zulkarnain & Shaimi

Ladies SinglesRM800 - 1st Aunnie TehRM400 - 2nd Pui Kang YuenRM200 - 3rd Azalea

League ChampionRM2000 - 1st Muja's (CM Mak, Cyrus Fu, Pietro Felix & Michael Lee)RM1200 - 2nd Slam (Anyone knows who are the team members?)RM800  - 3nd Tidal Wave (Anyone knows who are the team members?)

Foosing in Ohio

Well, this pub is called Lido's in Columbus and it's the most happening foosball place in this area where they have 4 foosball tables and they organize DYPs everyweek.

The guy holding the bottle while taking the pic has been playing for more than 25 years and particularly on the one million dollar table. His name is Mike by way. The others are rookies but some of them are really good. - Photo caption by Hussein.






Veteran Mike and Hussein.

Malaysia Boleh: Torpedo Foosball Table

Some of you have probably heard of the Torpedo Foosball Table, manufactured by Unicorn of Penang. Although it bears a striking resemblance to the Tornado, it is 100% Malaysian made. I have not tried the table myself, but from what I have heard from some friends, it plays like a Tornado. If you have tried the Torpedo before, please give us your comments below.



One of the major difference between the Tornado and the Torpedo is price (of course lah...:-). A Tornado T2000 cost more than RM 10,000, whereas the Torpedo cost RM 5,500 (without the coin-slot). I believe the price can still be reduced, if say, you were to order 5 units? LOL. To add salt to the wound, I have heard that, even if you can afford the RM 10,000 to buy a Tornado, the distributors are not prepared to sell the table to you!



Personally, I think the Torpedo will be excellent for companies who want to provide their employees with "timeout" activities within the office walls. There is an excellent article from Cnet.com that documents the popularity of foosball in tech companies like IBM, Intel, Yahoo, etc.
There is no doubt in anybody's mind that foosball in Malaysia will continue to grow. A locally manufactured table is a step in the right direction. Don't you agree... :-)

Related Links:

• http://www.unicorn.com.my

A Minor Point of View

After watching the recent Foosball Malaysia Central Region Tournament, I am going out on a limb to say that Mikey Tan and Ong Poh Seng have the stuff of Champions. The rest of you foosers, better watch out... LOL.

In terms of "points" they are still quite far behind, and that should not be a deterrent but rather an impetus for them to strive forward. Take Sean P’ng, for example, with fierce determination and hard work, he swept to the top of the points in less than a year.

During the Mild Seven Nationals 2000, Kevin Heng was touted to be the next person to repeat Sean P’ng’s feat. Can someone let me know where is “Aerial King” Kevin Heng… LOL. Anyway, I am glad to see that he will be back to defend his Single’s Title at this year’s Mild Seven Nationals.
To be fair to the up and coming foosers, I must mention that points gained or lost are dependent on the number of tournaments sanctioned by Foosball Malaysia. And this year has seen fewer tournaments than the year before.

<propaganda>
Well, what I heard from the “grapevine” is that volunteer organizers were busy and hardly appreciated for their efforts, which is of course very de-motivating. Lets remember to give them a break and thank them for their effort and their much-needed support for the sport of foosball in Malaysia.

Lets recognise some of the foosers whom have helped in the organising of foosball tournaments (sanctioned and non-sanctioned) in 2001: CMMAK, Nick, Bobby Tham, Alex Chong, Albert Cheok, Cyrus Foo, June, Raymond Kan, Edgar and Simon.

Sponsors: Alex Hing, Mild Seven, Foosball Malaysian, Disney Ace and Expressions.
(If you think I left anyone out, PLEASE do me the honour of adding their names below.)
</propaganda>

This coming Mild Seven Nationals 2001 should be very interesting. There will be renewed competitiveness, new challenges, old rivalries and intense foosing!!! And I wish you all good luck and may the best fooser wins!

From Beijing to Foosball Malaysia Central Region Tournament

Well, one thing is for sure, there are no foosball tables in Beijing, or at least I did not find one. I tried asking around... but could not really say the word, "foosball" in Mandarin. Struggling with some sign language, twisting both my hands, did not get me anywhere. Instead, I got to discussing about China's first ever World Cup Football qualifying.

Anyways, after coming back from Beijing on Oct 17th, it was time for some serious foosing... LOL. Went and got myself qualified for the Mild Seven Nationals on Oct 19th and on the following night, participated in the Foosball Malaysia's Central Region Tournament. The results and some info on the tournament are as follows:

From 19th October to 20th October 2001 at Bravos and Breakers respectively, Foosball Malaysia organised a Central Region Tournament as a warm-up to the Mild Seven Malaysia Nationals, which will be held from Nov 9 to Nov 11 2001 in KL Plaza.

As with most FM's foosball events, the turnout was good with players from Penang, Johor and Klang Valley. I think photos should be available at Foosball Malaysia's site.

Results for Rookies Event at Bravos - 19th Oct 2001

Rookie Singles:
1st Mickey Tan
2nd Pietro
3rd Azlan

Rookie Doubles:
1st Mickey Tan & Cheong HH
2nd  Pietro & Megat
3rd Alan & Ravindran

Results for Pro-Am and Open Doubles Event at Breakers, KL - 20th Oct 2001

Open Doubles:
1st Shaun Boy & Chin Teik Eng
2nd Ong Poh Seng & Edmund
3rd Michael Tan & Lim Yen Seng

Pro-Am Doubles:
1st Jerry Chang & Azlan
2nd Ong Poh Seng & Shaun Lung
3rd Mak Choong Moon & Simon Lim

Kudos to CMMak, Bobby, Cyrus, June, Expressions and others for making the tournament happening!!

A Chat with Link Pendley of Valley-Dynamo and Jimmy of Expression

From left: Simon, Jimmy and Link.

During the 2001 April Foosball Malaysia Championship, we had an opportunity to chat with Link Pendley of Valley-Dynamo and Jimmy of Expression and Breakers fame.

Link Pendley was down in Malaysia to promote speed pool throughout the country. And fortunately for us, Jimmy and Link took the opportunity presented by FM Championship to make an announcement about the VIFA league to all the players.

We had a few question for Link and Jimmy and here's what they said.

Q: Are you first of all a fooser?

Link: Yes, I started playing back in 1967 and the first foosball table I played on was the Deutschmeister (spelling?) in Germany. It used to cost 10 cents per game.

Jimmy: Yes, on the Lowen... and that was 6 years back in Modesto's KL. Two years after playing on Lowen, I started on the Tornado and been on both table since.

Q: Link, what are your vision for promoting foosball in Asia? Singapore or Japan?
Since Malaysia has the largest player base in this region, it is naturally our plan to reach out to the neighbouring countries through here. But there are a few legislative and marketing issues that need to be overcomed first. For instance, in Singapore, an entertainment outlet is only allowed to place a single coin-operated game machine. And since there is a bigger pool players base, these establishments would rather choose a pool table over a foosball table.

Our international marketing strategies has always been to partner with local coin-op games operators who are interested. These operators are usually well established and very familar with local market conditions.

As for Japan, I have just had a discussion Joe Ueno of Japan Foosball Club and we will continue after this.

Q: What about promoting foosball and expanding the player base further in Malaysia?

Jimmy: We have already placed foosball tables in Colleges like Taylor's, Sunway and Inti. This will hopefully increase the player base further.