National Paintball League, formerly called the Indian Premier League, is an organization that promotes Paintball in the country, since its inception in 2008.



The organization, on November 12th, announced their first Indian Professional Teams: N.P.L. All Stars India and NPL All Stars Bangalore, who will know participate in the World Cup Asia Paintball Tournament 2009, which is to be held at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from November 19th-22nd.

Paintball is a game that’s yet to get its momentum in India, but is an extremely popular game when it comes to countries from Europe and America. Speaking more about the game, Kiran Soans, C.E.O. of Mercureal Sports and the captain of the N.P.L. All Stars India Team, said, “We started the National Paintball League just for the love of the sports. I guess, it will take some time for the people from our country to accept this as a professional sport. In fact, we, at Mercureal Sports, have been promoting Paintball as a serious sport and we hope people will soon take this game, too, as some kind of serious sporting.”



It’s the first time that both the teams will participate in an international tournament, but Soans is hopeful that, as things start falling on its place, they will be able to play a lot of the tournaments of international standard in years to come. “In the Asia Paintball Tournament, there are 400 teams, with over 40 countries, participating. We are participating in level three and four respectively. There are a total of four levels in the tournament.” He added, “Next year we are planning to take part in the millennium series, which is considered to be the biggest Paintball Tournament in the word. It happens in Europe.”  

N.P.L. All Stars India is a team that’s comprised of players from Bangalore and Chennai, and they are the ones participating in the level three of the Asia Paintball Tournament. The other, All Stars Bangalore, is a team comprised of mainly the students from Bangalore. Both the teams were selected after a series of tournaments organized across the country this year. Neha Sekar, the only female player from the National Team, who also works as a financial analyst, said, “I am excited about the sport and I am happy that I will be representing the country at the Asian Tournament. It’s a game that’s not yet very popular amongst our peers, and I know things will surely change in years to come.” She added, “I want to be the best female player at this game from this country, and I also want to inspire other people of my age to take this game seriously. It’s, I think, not just a sport, but there are a lot of things that one can actually learn from it. It helps in team building, dedication, coordination and a lot of other things.”  

National Paintball League of India was founded in 2008. N.P.L. has been already successful in setting up two international paintball zones in the country: Bangalore and Chennai, and are now hoping to expand it in cities like Shillong, Delhi and Bombay. “We are opening shortly in Shillong and we have got a very nice response from people there. Delhi and Bombay will also come up soon.