posted Mar 3rd, 2013 - The indoor competition at Freezone in Moscow was complete after eight rounds, and Sky Panthers Barkli turned the meet in time to remain undefeated in Russia since 2006.

It was still a very close race. SportLoto actually won more rounds than Barkli (3 - 2) but could not win enough points in those three rounds to overcome the two losses in Round 5 and Round 6 where Barkli had the strongest part of the meet.

It has not happened very often that Barkli lost a round to a Russian opponent. Three rounds within one meet is a new experience, and Barkli now knows that there is serious competition on home turf in Russia. Black Cat used to be the strongest opponent before personnel changes put the team quite far behind the top position. SportLoto is the new challenger.

Freezone 2013		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	G,10,N,O	14,K,2	8,18,22	7,15,E	M,17,A,21	13,J,20	L,11,F,9	3,C,16	Total	Avg
1	Sky Panthers Barkli (RU)	27	23	20	30	31	22	30	25	208	26.0
2	SportLoto (RU)	27	24	20	27	28	22	31	26	205	25.6
3	a.team4way (RU)	20	20	17	25	24	20	30	22	178	22.3

Sky Panthers Barkli will be prepared for the challenge, as the NSL News reported earlier. It was not only SportLoto who made a statement this weekend. Barkli also delivered a very strong message at one of the team's very rare indoor appearances. The new lineup, with Nikolay Vylegzhanin in the Center Inside slot, is ready again to pursue medal positions at the international meets.

Russia has been a contender for medals ever since the 8way gold medalists of 2001 and 2003 turned to 4way. Russia won 4way bronze medals in 2004 and 2010 and was extremely close in 2006 and 2008. At the Mondial Dubai 2012 Sky Panthers Barkli then finished in 5th place and farther behind the medal positions than ever before in this time period.

The 4way lineup competed in 8way at the same time and won bronze medals. There was no chance to get even close in 4way due to the focus on 8way and the lack of 4way training.

Sky Panthers Barkli	SportLoto

The situation seems to be different this year. Sky Panthers Barkli is not alone in Russia on world class level any longer. The tough indoor battle and the upcoming domestic pressure can only be helpful to get the best out of both teams.

The 26.0 winning average keeps up with Arizona Airspeed's 26.1 average at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2013. The scores of Gavroches Maubeuge and Thunder at the Aerokart Indoor Championship 2013 were boosted by the start of each sequence from a Star.

Only NMP-PCH Hayabusa's indoor world champions seem to be able to pull away from this scoring level at the moment. Canada's new Evolution lineup has not posted any scores yet. The World Challenge 2013 will bring the Belgian team into the 2013 picture and provide more insights. Fact is that Russia has two world class teams this year, and one of them will bring Russia back to medal contention in 4way at the international meets very soon.