posted Jan 19th, 2016 - Bad news came from Spain today, where the Wind Games 2016 are scheduled to begin this weekend in Empuriabrava.

Golden Knights coach Solly Williams informed the Sun Path Products NSL News that the world's current top team in 4-way Women had to cancel their participation at the upcoming indoor competition after arriving in Spain.

The team's complete luggage was stolen from the rental car during a coffee break in Barcelona, and chances are little that the equipment can be recovered before the competition begins.

The start of the team's 2016 competition season has to be postponed until the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship.

Coach Solly Williams was still in DeLand when the bad news arrived, and he has canceled his own trip to Spain.

Wind Games 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women												Total	Avg
0	NFTO	UK	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0
0	Wom'in France	FR	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0
0	Dubai Asaar Ladies	AE	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0
0	Jujariwa	DE	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0

Satori XL had to deal with problems at the beginning of the 2016 season, as well. Pete Allum said that one of the team members broke a wrist during the first outdoor training camp this year.

However, the necessary cast was removed last week, and Satori XL will be ready to compete at the Wind Games. Pete Allum said that the team is now looking forward to re-start the plans for the 2016 season.

Pete Allum joined the Satori 3-way (Julia Swallow, John McIver, Ian Hodgkinson) before last year's national championships, which added the XL to the Satori name. Pete Allum and John McIver were XL team mates until the World Meet in Gap 2003, together with Thomas Hughes and Steve Hamilton. John McIver later continued with Satori, while Pete Allum and Steve Hamilton moved to Italy and competed with Sinapsi. Thomas Hughes has been competing with Arizona Airspeed's 4-way lineup since 2011.

Rank	Top Teams at Wind Games 2016	Country	Indoor Averages in 2015	Best 3
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	30.4 - 30.1 - 31.1 - 31.3	30.9
2	Weembi Lille	FR	26.8 - 29.5	28.2
3	Golden Knights	US	25.4 - 26.2 - 29.4 - 27.7	27.8
4	Black Cat	RU	28.1 - 26.2	27.2
5	Thunder ISR	BE	25.4 - 25.7 - 26.8	26.0
6	Qatar Tigers	QA	24.6 - 26.0 - 26.9	25.8
7	Artemis Saumur/Simetra	FR	25.0	25.0

The bad luck of the Golden Knights in Barcelona brings the defending 4-way Women team, NFTO, back into the position of the top contender in this category. The strong French team for the meet, Wom'in France, might be able to offer some resistance to NFTO with Vana Parker.

The loss of the US Army team is bigger for the 4-way Open Class competition, despite the separate leaderboard. The Golden Knights were the 4th best outdoor team in the world at the end of the 2015 season and in 5th place of the indoor rankings.

Several world class teams (Weembi Lille, Black Cat, Thunder ISR, Qatar Tigers) would have enjoyed the additional challenge by the Golden Knights across the leaderboard, and the three French FLY-IN Girls would surely have their eyes on the team's next performance. It was an unfortunate start of the two U.S. national 4-way teams (Arizona Airspeed - Golden Knights) into the new competition season...