By Y.P. SIVAM
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All in the family: (From left) Kyrel, Rehana and Shahreel all ready for action with their team, Zealous. |
ONE is a budding golfer; the other a junior shooter while the third is a student. The trio of Shahreel Eqbal, Rehana Emylla and Kyrel Emran along with elder brother Dzulhallee, a former national junior sprinter, have found a common interest in paintball.
The foursome are children of former international Datuk Paduka Mumtaz Jaafar, who won the women’s 100m gold medal in the Manila SEA Games in 1981, and sports official Dom Amy Hussain.
Shahreel, the golfer in the family with a handicap of three, said paintball had brought the family together and they have become closer after getting involved in the game in April this year.
“Each are active in different sport activities. So, it was difficult for us to meet regularly. But since we started being active in paintball, we have been spending a lot of time together.
“We have also convinced our cousins to gather on weekends for regular paintball activities,” 20-year-old Shahreel, a Pre U student at the Bukit Jalil Sports School, said.
Rehana is a promising shooter (air pistol) and has been selected to represent Selangor at next year’s Sukma in Terengganu while Kyrel is more inclined to books. Both Rehana and Kyrel are students of SMK Damansara Utama. Rehana is in Form Five while Kyrel is in Form One.
Shahreel said their affair with paintball started when he had to pick up his brother – Dzulhallee - after a paintball training session.
“It was a weekend. I was quite free. Along with Rehana and Krel, we went to fetch my brother. We watched all the action for a short while. It was quite interesting with all the shooting. My brother also encouraged us to join his training sessions.
“It was fun and enjoyable. More importantly, we were spending more time as a family,” said Shahreel.
It did not take long for Shahreel and his siblings to master the basics in paintball. Together with several other paintball players, they formed a team – Zealous – and joined the National Paintball League. Playing in Division Three, Zealous made their presence felt by qualifying for the quarterfinals.
Zealous second competition was the Nemesis X Tour in Kuantan where they finished second. In the Junior Sports Carnival held in Bukit Jalil, Zealous became the champions.
Zealous also made their presence felt in Division Three of the Paintball Asia League series. In the Werdnahol-sponsored division, Zealous finished second in the first leg and champion in the second leg. This weekend, Shahreel and his siblings will be part of Zealous taking part in the third leg in Manila, the Philippines.
Shahreel said they were looking at a podium finish in Manila.
“We believe the competition will be tough. We are not aware of the foreign challenge. But we have a bright chance of finishing among the top three. We also feel that it is a realistic target,” said Shahreel.
Though, both Shahreel and Rehana are active in paintball, they don’t have plans to quit golf or shooting. Both continue their training programmes in golf and shooting. Shahreel trains at the range about four days week and also goes on the course.
Rehana, as a member of the Selangor junior squad, goes to the shooting range thrice a week.
But on weekends, they get together and head to the paintball course.
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