posted Mar 29th, 2013 - The story of Formation Skydiving competition on the Arab Peninsula began for the NSL News realistically when Eliana Rodriguez and Craig Girard moved to Dubai after the World Meet 2010 in Menzelinsk, Russia, where they competed with Arizona Airspeed for the USA.

This move also launched an athletic rivalry between Dubai, one of the seven United Arab Emirates, and neighbor Qatar, which has brought a lot of additional activities and excitement to the skydiving world.

However, even the NSL News records go further back in time, and the first 4way showdown between teams from the UAE and Qatar was on the NSL leaderboard after the 1st Dubai Cup in January 2010.

1st Dubai Cup 2010		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	20,D,14	4,C,9	L,16,12	10,5,J	3,O,22	G,19,Q,7	H,21,1	13,P,N,K	Total	Avg
10	U.A.E.	3	10	8	7	6	9	8	10	61	7.6
13	Qatar Falcons (QA)	0	2	0	0	2	0	2	0	6	0.8

The UAE team won all eight rounds over the Qatar team, which already competed under the name Falcons by then. It was the only and the last time until now that a UAE team outscored a Qatar team and placed better on any leaderboard.

In fact, the teams from Dubai have only won a total of two rounds over Qatar ever since, the last one in Round 1 of the Mondial Dubai 2012.

Qatar launched its 4way project roughly a year earlier than Dubai and was far ahead a year later at the 2nd Dubai Cup. This time, the two Qatar teams, Tigers and Falcons, won all eight rounds over Dubai.

2nd Dubai Cup 2011		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	P,17,18	M,N,F,3	H,A,6,B	Q,1,C,14	4,10,15	16,O,J,22	K,2,E,11	G,9,8	Total	Avg
9	Qatar Tigers (QA)	13	14	17	12	10	14	15	13	108	13.5
10	Qatar Falcons (QA)	9	14	13	11	9	12	11	13	92	11.5
11	U.A.E.	9	11	13	8	9	12	11	12	85	10.6

The distance between the teams was not as far as in 2010 since Eliana Rodriguez and Craig Girard had started their own work for Skydive Dubai's 4way project. Solly Williams and Max Thiele had created the head start for Qatar in the meantime.

Dubai Asaar Red was Dubai's national 4way team and began to catch up during the 2011 season. Asaar Red, with player coach Craig Girard in the lineup, finally won the first one of the two unique rounds at the USPA Nationals 2011 and tied the Qatar Tigers scores in two other rounds.

The Qatar Falcons had German player coach Max Thiele in the lineup in Eloy and even posted a sole highscore in Round 6. Both Qatar teams were once again ahead of Dubai.

USPA Nationals 2011		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	Advanced Class	M,5,13	21,14,22	12,20,D	11,Q,16	O,C,10,K	P,L,19,8	18,6,2	15,9,G	7,F,17	A,B,N,J,3	Total	Avg
1	Qatar Tigers (QA)	13	13	12	14	14	13	12	15	18	16	140	14.0
4	Qatar Falcons (QA)	12	8	11	13	14	14	11	15	16	16	130	13.0
7	Dubai Asaar Red (AE)	14	9	10	11	13	13	12	15	14	15	126	12.6
12	Dubai Asaar Gold (AE)	11	9	8	10	11	9	11	11	12	13	105	10.5

The distance increased at the end of the same year when all four teams competed at the 3rd Dubai Cup a few months after the USPA Nationals.

This time, Asaar Red and Asaar Gold did not win or tie any round on their home turf in Dubai, while the Falcons outscored the Tigers in two of the eight rounds.

Dubai Asaar Red and Gold competed without any active help by their coaches this time, and the Gold team finished only one single point behind the assigned national team.

3rd Dubai Cup 2011		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	L,C,P,20	K,M,6,15	G,19,H,11	2,10,E	13,9,5	O,7,3	B,21,16	4,1,22	Total	Avg
5	Qatar Tigers (QA)	18	15	14	13	10	18	16	11	115	14.4
6	Qatar Falcons (QA)	17	15	14	12	14	14	14	12	112	14.0
10	Dubai Asaar Red (AE)	14	10	10	11	10	12	9	8	84	10.5
11	Dubai Asaar Gold (AE)	13	10	11	10	8	10	11	10	83	10.4

Both teams had also launched their 8way projects in the meantime, and the Dubai teams competed in both events at the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship 2012. It would still take a while until both 8way teams would eventually meet each other for the first time at a competition.

Qatar's 8way lineup posted 8way scores for the first time at the USPA Nationals 2011 in the Intermediate Class, while Dubai competed directly with the Golden Knights and Barkli in March 2012 in DeLand.

This time, Dubai would eventually have the upper hand and outscore Qatar's 8way team at the Mondial 2012.

Dubai October 2012		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	N,11,3	K,Q,J,18	O,22,D,15	G,17,7	19,1,8	Total	Avg
1	Qatar Tigers (QA)	17	19	15	18	13	82	16.4
2	Coaches (AE)	17	19	14	17	12	79	15.8
3	Dubai Asaar Red (AE)	12	16	13	16	12	69	13.8
4	Dubai Asaar Gold (AE)	12	15	13	13	13	66	13.2

The 4way teams from both countries then met for a test meet before the final showdown at the Mondial 2012.

The Qatar teams had former Hayabusa member Luc Verstrepen as their head coach in 2012, while former Sinapsi member Marco Arrigo was working with the new 8way team.

The Qatar Tigers outscored both Dubai teams and a pickup team of coaches in October 2012 and were ready to defend their regional top position at Skydive Dubai two months later.

Qatar Tigers (QA)	Dubai Asaar Red (AE)

Mondial Dubai 2012		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	5,12,E	6,D,B,K	O,8,7	N,13,18	10,21,M	19,H,11	C,G,1,A	20,9,15	Total	Avg
13	Qatar Tigers (QA)	15	21	19	14	15	17	19	16	136	17.0
14	VIVA 4 (CH)	14	21	19	11	17	14	20	14	130	16.3
15	CTR Optimum (BR)	17	19	16	13	15	14	19	16	129	16.1
16	Dubai Asaar Red (AE)	16	20	16	12	15	16	18	13	126	15.8

It was obviously no surprise that the Qatar Tigers won the internal Arab competition at the Mondial 2012.

However, Dubai Asaar Red managed to outscore the Tigers for the second time in their common history in Round 1 and finished with the highest meet average in the team's history.

The UAE national team was in striking distance of their regional opponent who also posted a new record average after eight rounds. Only VIVA from Switzerland and CTR Optimum placed between the two teams from the Arabian Peninsula.

Dubai Asaar Black	Dubai Asaar Yellow

The projects in both countries continue, and all four teams have signed up for the next showdown at the World Challenge 2013. The NSL News will surely follow this exciting race, which will take place within a few minutes in each round, as all four teams are next to each other in the flying order.

Eliana Rodriguez and Craig Girard have changed the lineups of their two 4way teams, and the first scores were posted at the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship 2013. Dubai Asaar Black is the national team, and coach Craig Girard had to help out in DeLand where Center Inside Obaid Al Falasi was nursing his injured shoulder.The new Black team posted a new record average for the United Arab Emirates and will meet the Qatar teams at Bodyflight Bedford who compete at the World Challenge for the first time.