Welcome to KL, A Button-Down Businessman's Paradise

Malaysia likes being an international business attraction. Thus Kuala Lumpur is not the most raging city in SE Asia. It's got lots of skyscrapers, super-fancy hotels, subways and skytrains but not much of a nightlife. Beer is expensive, more so than New York and much higher than other SE Asian cities. Of course alcohol of any kind is disallowed by Islam—and Malaysia is 70% Muslim—so it's all irie.

The Brits got Malaysia happening in the early 1900s before the independence movement in the 1950s begat a new country with its own government. As a result, Malaysians watch a lot of English Premier League football on the telly these days.

Malaysians also like bowling, badminton, billiards and golf, among other leisure activities. Team sports are mostly consigned to soccer, takraw and field hockey (for men and women). Ultimate isn't really on the radar yet but it's starting up quickly.

A few years ago a company called Global Sports Partners began making and selling Ultimate discs in Malaysia. The discs are of comparable size and shape to 175 gram Discrafts or Wham-Os. The discs fly similarly but the plastic is a bit stiffer. They are much cheaper to buy, about $3.

Just as Wham-O spread Ultimate throughout Europe in the 1970s, Global Sports Partners promotes Ultimate in Malaysia. Since 2004, regular tournaments and training camps in Kuala Lumpur have drawn hundreds of mostly high school and college-aged players. Free GSP discs are often part of the package.

In fact, while the Malaysia Open was in progress, a Juniors-level tournament with 12 teams was taking place in another suburb of KL. Put it all together and it means that Ultimate in Malaysia has a good chance of growing into a significant sport.

School Teachers & The First Annual Malaysia Open

The Malaysia Open was designed to be different from the local tournaments and geared to higher-level international competition. The nearby Singapore teams (Freakshow, Shiok and Disc Knights), known as some of the best in the region, were in attendance, along with Bangkok, Borneo and four teams from KL.

Freakshow split into two teams, Green and White, roughly representing the O team and the D team. Both Disc Knights and Shiok sent strong but youthful teams while the Bangkok Soidwagz (the team I played with) were mostly veteran expat males and experienced Thai women. The Borneo Bristleheads from Kota Kinabalu had only been together for five months but brought their best and brightest.

The KL teams had strong ties to academics. Throughout SE Asia, teachers at English language schools are primary movers behind the spread of Ultimate. The Soidawgz were anchored by a core of teachers from the International School as was Satu Lagi, one of the more experienced KL teams. Dengue Fever, a recent addition, was composed of players from the new-ish KBU University while the Wildcats, a Muslim college team whose women played in headscarves, were from UiTM Intec. The Alice Smith School Pirates, a team of teachers and students from the English language high school in KL were also present. They went by the moniker A.S.S. Pirates.

Brackets and Mud

KL = Kuala Lumpur = when translated, "muddy confluence," the place where two rivers meet and everything turns to mud. Despite modest rains (the rainy season was just beginning) the fields by the end of Saturday were a mess. Standing water and ankle deep skin-sucking mud were the trademark of all three fields making for an unusually sluggish tournament.

The conditions suited the Bangkok team best and hurt the Singapore teams. Singapore squads feature speed while height is uncommon in the region. But with speed neutralized, the advantage was with the veteran handlers and big men on Soidawgz.

Two pools of five divided meant you had to finish top three to advance to the six-team upper bracket on Sunday. Four pool play games were scheduled for Saturday but a lightning storm spent an hour menacing the fields at the end of the third round. The final round was summarily canceled and moved to Sunday morning.

The new schedule had the final pool play game between undefeated teams Freakshow Green and the Soidawgz play at 8:30am with the winner getting a bye into semifinals and the loser squaring off in a quarterfinal play-in. This proved pivotal: Bangkok won the game 10-8 and earned a bye while Singapore had to regroup and match up against the Wildcats in quarters. Were Freakshow to advance to the finals, they would have played three games straight before a one-game rest prior to finals, their fourth game of the day.

Not surprisingly this is what happened. Freakshow downed the Wildcats 9-3 and then took out Shiok in semis by two, while Bangkok outlasted Disc Knights in a tough semifinal, 11-9, to set up the rematch.

In finals, Bangkok used a straight-up mark and switching junk defense to confuse a tired Singapore team. With two tall targets (6'5" Dan Axon and myself, also about 6'5") playing in and out the smaller Freakshow team, missing their 6'7" stalwart Steinar, found themselves with difficult matchups and few options.

Soidwagz ended up winning the finals by a sizable margin, finishing the tournament undefeated at 6-0.

Nice little trophies were handed out to the Soidawgz as well as the Borneo Bristleheads, the spirit award winners, and Satu Lagi, the winning team in Sunday's split B division. Mud was just about everywhere, coating the competitors and claiming flip-flops.

Thanks to Jyn for hosting the tournament and inviting me along, along with her masterful cohorts Safwan, Kuan and Miguel, as nice and competent a bunch of Ultimate players and tournament organizers as you will find.

For a first tournament it was well run and well-attended and much fun to play in. Look for Malaysia Ultimate to continue its upward trend.

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