Maximus Lundqvist of pro paintball team Joy Division sent word that a video update from the team has been released. The paintball video features several of the Joy Division players discussing the teams retirement and includes information as to their personal lives, their paintball careers, and what the future has in store for them.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Max was recently interviewed by GlobeSoldiers. Check it out here.

Following on the heels of Joy Divisions retirement announcement, team manager Magued Idris has released a statement providing more information and insight as to where the players will end up.

Thanks! For the kind words, its been a pleasure being part of paintball with you guys,

The team is really moved by the overwhelming kind response from all over the world. And it feels like we did something right reading all those praises

Sebban and Karl will play with the local Mash team at least a year or 2 more.

Max is not sure, but hes talking about doing little maxes with hes girlfriend (which you would understand if you meet her! )

Mellis is done and Storckenfeldt is done. Knut is moving back to Norway and might play some more but he have big plans with his naprapathy carrier.

And for me I retired last year but are still involved thru my Aball, so I will be at events sometimes with APS.

The team might do some promotion for the new Angel in 2011 and Im sure APS will do one last Joy Edition when the ARK arrive

Thank you!

Magued Idris

Yesterday morning a rumor surfaced in the pro paintball smackbox that the Joy Division CPL spot was for sale. PRO Paintball insiders sent us word today that one of the longest running European pro paintball teams has retired their guns.

Here is a statement from Magued Idris, Owner & Manger of Joy Division;

“We will end it now as most of the guys feel it’s time. It have been the best time of our lives and soo glad and proud to have been part of paintball.

What I’m most proud of is that the team have kept together from day one. Not 1 player in the 15 year history of the teamhave left Joy for another team and therefor it’s just right that we end it together.”

No word yet as to which teams the Joy Division players will be playing with in 2011.

Photo credit: Steven Yang

Our buddy Nima sent over a photo of the new Joy Division 2010 pro paintball jersey. Not exactly sure where this photo originated but its interesting never the less. For as long as we can remember Joy Division has been shooting Angel paintball guns. Looks like this season there is a bit of a change in the works as the team picked up pro paintball player Chris Lasoya and G.I. Milsim as a sponsor for the Millennium Series 2010 season.

Joy will be shooting NANO50 cal markers in the European events and if rumor serves us right, the team will resume shooting their Joy Division Angels when they play paintball worldwide. It is interesting to note that the Millennium Series was one of the first “major” paintball leagues to adopt and allow for .50cal paintball play.

Day 2 of the pro paintball qualifying round has begun at the PSP 2009 World Cup. In order for teams to continue on will need to play out the remainder of the round robin bracket and accumulate enough points to position themselves within the top 4. Teams like Dynasty, Russian Legion, the Ironmen and the All Americans received “by’s” due to their season points and won’t start playing paintball until tomorrow. Viewers at home can rest easy as the PSP will be unveiling its professional webcast first thing Friday morning with the beginning of the preliminary round.

• Impact beat out Joy Division in a hard-fought match, 7-5.
• Infamous takes the match against Hurricanes in a buzzer-beating 7-5 finish.
• X-Factor beat Aftershock, 7-5.
• Aftermath beat out the Naughty Dogs, 6-5.
• Damage defeated Impact, 7-5.
• X-Factor took a 7-3 win over the Hurricanes.
• Joy Division beats the naughty dogs, 7-6 after coming back from a 3-6 spread.
• In a hard fought match, Aftershock wins in overtime Aftermath, 7-6.

Yesterday was a hot one at the World Cup event and we recommend both players and spectators bring sunscreen, wide brimmed hats and drink plenty of fluids. If your in the area, be sure to stop by the BLAST tech booth in the vendor area for free software upgrades to your Tadao boards, courtesy of Tadao Technologies. For point by point updates, follow @ProPaintballcom on twitter.

The battle begins today at the 2009 PSP World Cup being held at Fantasy of Flight in Polk City, Florida. Here are the latest scores from the pro paintball matches.

• X-Factor takes Infamous, 7-6.
• Impact defeats the Naughty Dogs 7-5.
• Hurricanes came out victorious against Aftershock 7-5.
• Damage beat Joy Division 7-2.
• Aftermath defeated X-Factor 7-3.
• After a back and forth match, Infamous beat Impact 7-5.
• Aftershock beat out the Naughty Dogs 7-2, the dogs suffered from a set of penalties.
• Aftermath powered through Joy Division, 7-2, Chris Lasoya was seen limping off the field due to a knee injury.
• The Hurricanes were on a roll today, scoring 6-1 against damage. Damage picked it up at the end and won the match 7-6. Talk about Damage making a  comeback.

For point by point updates and match scores as they happen, be sure to follow @ProPaintballcom on twitter. Special thanks to Robs45 for help compiling the scores.

With the PSP World Cup less then two weeks from today, teams are getting their final days of preparation and practice in to prepare for the final PSP of the 2009 season.

After scanning the list of teams signed up for this event, we couldn’t help to notice that neither Edmonton Impact nor Stockholm Joy Division were signed up to attend the event.

As far as Joy goes, both Joy and ANGEL made a big splash about them playing as it would be the first time in over 2 years that Joy Division has competed in an American league. Previously, the team was a top contender in the NPPL Super 7 series and repeatedly finished within the top 4 teams at each pro event.

So, what’s the hold up? Will we see either of these teams in two short weeks at the PSP?

Update: Impact has now paid and is all set for Florida, see you guys there!

Related Topics:

• Joy Division back to the States

SUN 20th September SK Moscow came back from the dead and overcame a 0-4 scoreline over Riga Chili Peppers to win the Campaign Cup at Bastildon in the Millennium Series. The Chili Peppers came out playing fast and aggressive, taking 4 straight points. They held on Championship point 4 times but failed to capitalize on it.

Staring at defeat at 0-4, Kniatzev and his SK Moscow boys woke up and fought back, scrapping 4 points in a row to set up a sudden death final point. The matches were slug fests with points going down to 3 vs 3 and to 1 vs 1. The final point was a knife edge game with both teams getting 141 penalties, it went down to 1 vs 1 and that lasted over 2 minutes. The crowd, the commentators and over 21,000 people online went crazy. In the end SK Moscow had the momentum and the luck to win the duel and take the Campaign Cup.

In the Third place game, Stockholm Joy and Budapest Bullets slugged it out. Every time Joy scored a point, Bullets crawled one back- it was tied at 3-3 and then to sudden death at 4-4. In the 7th point at 3-3 it went down to 1 vs 1 with Captain Viktor Zemen on the Bullets. They played 1 vs 1 for a nerve wrecking 3 minutes until Viktor tried a move and was shot in the arm. Bullets again scored another point quickly to tie it at 4-4 but Joy had the edge over them and took the last point to win Third.

Campaign Cup – Millennium Series
Bastildon London

1. SK Moscow
2. Riga Chili Peppers
3. Stockholm Joy
4. Budapest Bullets

Photo by Planet Eclipse

We’ve just confirmed that Joy Division will be playing at the PSP World Cup. This is the first time in over 2 years that Joy Division has competed in an American league. Previously, the team was a top contender in the NPPL Super 7 series and repeatedly finished within the top 4 teams at each pro event. Citing politics and biased judging from the NPPL administration, Joy Division withdrew from the NPPL and left their franchise to Aftershock for the 2008 season. Joy has been taking a break from competing in America, and instead have been traveling the world acting as ambassadors to the sport and competing in various countries. After a 2 year break the Swedish dudes in leopard print are back in action and will be rejoining the PRO series.

Update: Very credible sources let us know that “all discussion has been about Joy playing PRO at World Cup”. Remember folks, you heard it here first.

Image Credit: Steven Yang

The team over at Speedball World has released a new paintball video showcasing some of the action at last weeks Millennium: Paris event.

The video makes it appear as if nearly every other team is using DYE equipment. Has DYE become that big of a force in European paintball?

Note from JM: Our Post-Practice Report, traditionally released on Mondays has been moved to Tuesdays so that the players have additional time to travel and recover from practice prior to contacting us.

Contrary to the rumors flying around, the Orange County Bushwackers will in fact be competing at the PSP Chicago Open.

Sounds like some of the kids from a well known semi-pro team were caught up at the wrong place at the wrong time. Word is five players are being held for questioning regarding a shooting that happened Saturday night at a party. Yikes! Update: We removed references to protect the identities.

The WCPPL is said to be adding another field to support the growing number of teams joining the league. There is talk that they will be standardizing on one layout per event to allow teams to focus on playing paintball rather than memorizing several layouts. Great move WCPPL!

Speaking of leagues, the AXBL is busy preparing the fields for their 2nd event (being held this weekend). A sneak peak of the setup is available here.

As a follow up to our story that Joy Division is considering playing World Cup, we received a credible bit that leads us to believe they may be the 14th team playing in the pro division. The idea is that they will help even out the brackets. Having both the Russians and the Swedes competing at the PSP World Cup will definitely lend international crediblity to the league as well as the sport of paintball.

Gino’s new company VALKEN is said to be getting back into the business of distribution, and big time.  Gino was formerly the head of National Paintball Supply and through his career he lead a giant buyout of several of the lines he was distributing. Rumor has it Gino has patched up his relationship with Bob Long and will be carrying the entire line of markers. Other names on the distribution list included Eclipse, Redz, JT Sports, SLY and strangely enough, XYIENCE.