posted Feb 22nd, 2016 - The preview of the Wind Games 2016 on January 15th mentioned that the Qatar Tigers had a good reason to start dreaming of medals at the Mondial 2016 after great results at the Clash of Champions and the World Air Games.

Only two national teams (NMP PCH Hayabusa, Arizona Airspeed) placed ahead of the Qatar Tigers at the Clash of Champions, where none of the world's best national 4-way teams were missing. Black Cat then won the bronze medals for Russia at the World Air Games, where only the national teams were eligible.

The Qatar Tigers finished in 4th place and were behind Black Cat a week later. This was actually no surprise since Qatar's national team had a personnel change between both events, as the team's new coach, former French 4-way and 8-way world champion Jeremie Rollett, explained for the Sun Path Products NSL News.

Clash of Champions 2015			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		J,13,8	K,20,5	9,21,19	C,3,6	7,O,15	A,18,1	2,H,P,D	16,L,11	E,N,10,B	12,Q,F,22	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	26	32	30	28	33	29	41	28	37	29	313	31.3
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	28	30	29	30	34	27	39	28	34	26	305	30.5
3	Weembi Lille	FR	27	28	30	29	33	27	35	28	30	28	295	29.5
4	Golden Knights	US	24	29	28	27	30	27	33	25	31	23	277	27.7
5	Qatar Tigers	QA	24	25	28	27	28	25	33	26	30	23	269	26.9

Wind Games 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		7,H,15	12,A,22	O,10,E,G	P,2,D,19	5,21,14	C,4,J,11	L,M,18,6	20,3,13	17,9,1	16,N,8	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH Hayabusa	BE	32	25	33	32	27	32	33	24	28	26	292	29.2
2	Weembi Lille	FR	33	16	30	24	24	29	28	21	25	26	256	25.6
3	Black Cat	RU	29	23	28	25	25	26	27	21	27	24	255	25.5
4	Thunder ISR	BE	26	20	30	27	22	26	28	19	26	23	247	24.7
5	Qatar Tigers	QA	29	21	28	26	21	22	27	20	26	24	244	24.4

Yousuf Abdulla Al Janahi has been the Inside Center for the Qatar Tigers since the 4-way project was launched in 2011. He also competed in his slot at the Clash of Champions and was injured before the World Air Games began.

Alternate Rashid Easa Al Kubisi was well trained when he had to fill the slot. He has been with the Qatar Tigers from the very beginnning, as well, and he also knows the Inside Center slot.

Jeremie Rollett said that the team started into the 2016 season with the new Inside Center and competed at the Wind Games 2016 with Rashid Easa Al Kubisi still in the driver's seat. The Qatar Tigers again ended up behind Black Cat, however, the distance was down from 20 points at the World Air Games to 11 points at the Wind Games.

Jeremie Rollett is not planning to change the lineup again. In fact, he has signed up the Qatar Tigers for the Shamrock Showdown 2016 and the World Challenge 2016, as the new lineup needs competition practice.

The Qatar Tigers will meet at least two of this year's top contenders for Mondial 2016 medals in DeLand, Arizona Airspeed and Black Cat. Then they will also meet the French Open Class team (FLY-IN) and NMP PCH Hayabusa in Bedford.

The results at both events will indicate how realistic the medal chances are for the Qatar Tigers this year. No team from the Middle East has ever been close yet to winning a set of medals at FAI World Championships of Formation Skydiving...