posted Jul 15th, 2008 - The NSL News reported on 18 June 2008 that the Sky Panthers were dominating the 4-way competition at the Russian Nationals 2008 after four rounds. The scores of the complete meet were posted a little bit later. Event Judge in Russia, Dr. Rainer "Exi" Hoenle from Germany, had provided the results and up-to-date information.

Not much changed in the remaining six rounds. The other top contender, Black Cat, was able to shake off the terrible start and gave the Sky Panthers a good competition for the remainder of the meet.

In fact, Black Cat won rounds five through ten by six points. However, it was too late, and Black Cat ended up four points behind the old and new Russian 4-way champion and national team.

The NSL News coverage of the FAI World Meet 2008 is brought to you with the help of:

Dr. Rainer "Exi" Hoenle had additional details of the competition in Russia for the NSL News. All teams jumped from the left-hand door of a Let. Black Cat had trained mostly from a Pilatus Porter this year in anticipation of the competition at the World Meet 2008 in France. The team was in Lillo, Spain, two times this year for ten days and jumped from the Pilatus Porter that crashed later.

The skydiving center in Stupino, where the annual Malevsky Cup took place several times, seems to be history for skydiving competition. The dropzone business is moving to Pushino, and the teams and officials at the Russian Nationals 2008 experienced a serious construction area.

An old factory building at the Pushino airport will be hosting the new facilities with offices, team and video rooms, Toly's skydiving shop, a rigging loft and even a manufacturing line for parachutes.

It was challenging for the teams and officials to focus on the competition, as Exi reported.

He added that there were also problems with the fuel for the Let jump planes that increased the waiting periods in addition to the weather holds.

However, the ten rounds of the championship event were completed, and Sky Panthers will compete for Russia at the World Meet 2008.

Mikhail Kuznetsov, Vladimir Pavlenko, Oleg Shalamykhin, Sergej Shenin and Andrey Seliverstov on camera represented Russia already at the World Meet 2006 in Germany. Michail Kuznetsov alone won a bronze medal with a different Sky Panthers lineup at the World Meet 2004 in Croatia after a dramatic 1-point race (211 - 210) with Italy's Sinapsi PD team.

His three team mates in Croatia were Vasili Korotkov, Alexei Minaev and Yevgeni Stashenko who formed Black Cat with the new and youngest member Alexander Kvochur when the Sky Panthers of 2004 disbanded.

Michail Kuznetsov, Governor of a Russian state in the northwestern part of Russia, recruited the new Sky Panthers lineup for the 2006 season and qualified as the Russian national team for the World Meet in Germany. He and Russian industrialist Leonid Kazinets shared a slot for training and competition between Skylight Barkli (Leonid Kazinets) and Sky Panthers (Michail Kuznetsov), as the NSL News explained on 3 February 2008. Vladimir Pavlenko, Oleg Shalamykhin and Sergej Shenin have been very busy ever since.

The Sky Panthers of 2006 missed the bronze medal position in Germany by the same single point (110 - 109) that had won the 3rd place for Russia in Croatia 2004. Again it was Sinapsi PD giving Michail Kuznetsov the tough competition and stealing the bronze medals for Italy. This time, both teams were even very close to the silver medal position that France's "pickup team" won with a 22.2 average.

Sky Panthers and Skylight Barkli continued taking turns throughout the 2007 and 2008 season until Sky Panthers won the Russian Nationals 2008 with a 24.3 average. Skylight Barkli was obviously not on the leaderboard on June 17. Leonid Kazinets competed with his lineup at the World Challenge 2008 and posted a 24.2 average at the indoor competition in Bedford. Now he is once again the official alternate for the Sky Panthers in France this August. There is a good chance that the unoffical team name for Russia will be Sky Panthers Barkli.