posted Jul 1st, 2018 - The NSL News has introduced not only the teams who are medal contenders at the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving, even though the race for the top positions are naturally a very attractive part of any competition.

Some of the teams started from positions at world meets that were far away from the races for medals, and the reigning 4-way world champions from Belgium, NMP PCH HayaBusa, are a very real example for that. HayaBusa placed 6th at the team's first world meet in Croatia 2004, 33 points behind the bronze medal position and 49 points behind the winner, U.S. team DeLand Majik.

14 years later, HayaBusa is on the way to win their third consecutive 4-way world champion title in Australia.

Qatar's national 8-way team, the Falcons, are not going to win FAI gold medals this year, which are reserved for the Golden Knights, with a slight chance that Russia's Tanay 8-way team might challenge the reigning 8-way world champions of 2012, 2014 and 2016 for the top spot. However, the Qatar Falcons seem to be in a solid position to win the 8-way bronze medals.

The Qatar Falcons finished in 10th place at their first world meet, the Mondial Dubai 2012, and did not make the second cut after Round 9. Eight years later, some of the original team members are ready to step up onto the 8-way podium for the first time.

It would be the first set of medals in civilian Formation Skydiving competition for Qatar, and also the first time that a team from a different continent than North America or Europe finish in a medal position in one of the two traditional Formation Skydiving events (4-way Open, 8-way Open).

The NSL News has followed the development of both national teams from Qatar, Tigers (4-way) and Falcons (8-way), since the team project was launched in 2011 and mentioned on 6 July of the same year that "the skydiving world seems to shift to the Middle East".

The Falcons were a 4-way team at the beginning, and the 8-way team was added later to the Qatar Formation Skydiving project. In fact, the name of the first 8-way lineup at the team's first competition, the USPA Nationals 2011, was Qatar Knights.

USPA Nationals 2011		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Intermediate	7,P,13	6,19	B,D,6	1,F,3	L,C,E,21	17,10	N,2,M	J,G,A,4	K,18,O	8,14	Total	Avg
1	SPX 8	7	6	9	11	8	7	7	8	6	7	76	7.6
2	Rhythmic Khaos XP	8	4	7	9	9	7	7	9	7	7	74	7.4
3	Spaceland Lite Mamba	7	7	5	9	9	6	7	8	7	7	72	7.2
4	Qatar Knights	6	5	9	5	9	7	6	7	8	7	69	6.9
5	Fallouts Gone Havoc	6	6	8	6	5	4	8	8	7	5	63	6.3
5	Dallas Fusion	6	7	7	6	7	5	6	7	6	6	63	6.3
7	Go Wear T.E.C.	6	4	7	7	5	6	5	6	7	4	57	5.7
8	Spaceland Point Taken	6	5	4	8	4	2	3	6	5	4	47	4.7
9	Ultra Sonic	5	5	2	2	3	5	5	6	6	5	44	4.4
10	Perris Calm and Confused	5	5	4	3	4	5	3	4	5	3	41	4.1
10	AZ Err Speed	5	5	2	5	4	6	2	6	3	3	41	4.1
12	Oivind's Outcasts	4	5	5	4	3	2	3	4	3	2	35	3.5
13	Hello 8way	3	2	2	3	3	3	2	3	3	4	28	2.8
14	Flight Risk	3	4	1	3	2	2	4	2	2	2	25	2.5
15	Secks and Frogs	0	1	1	2	2	2	3	2	4	3	20	2.0
16	Arizona Epic Awesome	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0

The Qatar Falcons train at Skydive City in Florida when it is too hot in Qatar during the summer months of the eastern hemisphere. The NSL News has taken advantage of the regular visits and visited Skydive City a few times for updates of the Qatar Falcons.

The first update from Skydive City on the road to Australia on 8 December 2017 made clear that the Qatar Falcons were aiming at 8-way bronze medals at this year's world meet. It was not clear at that time that France would not have an 8-way team in Australia, and the Falcons expected strong competition for a medal position.

The next update came on 13 February 2018 in a new NSL Live Talk with HayaBusa and Falcons coach Gary Smith, and the stories included videos of 8-way training jumps.

The newest update is showing the Qatar Falcons once again in 8-way action, and coach Gary Smith is also introducing the team and staff members this time, who provide their own feedback for the NSL News.

French Indoor Nationals 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		11,9,8	13,2,M	12,4,A	3,P,C,10	H,N,Q,1	5,16,B	19,L,J,21	E,15,18	G,7,D,17	O,6,K,F	Total	Avg
1	Weembi Elder 8	FR	23	19	34	32	37	29	21	28	26	28	277	27.7
2	Qatar Falcons	QA	17	21	32	30	35	30	23	26	25	30	269	26.9
3	Veloce QRF	IN	17	18	29	24	33	23	18	26	20	23	231	23.1
4	Fan8ics	IT	17	17	26	20	30	21	17	20	16	22	206	20.6
5	PCP Coyotes JCM	FR	14	12	20	19	19	16	13	19	17	16	165	16.5
6	Project Ride the Dragon	UK	15	13	17	18	17	20	13	18	16	17	164	16.4

The Qatar Falcons explain why the 8-way videos of the training jumps are shorter this time. The audience will see that there is not enough working time for the 50 seconds that 8-way teams have to score points, as the Falcons have been exiting at an altitude of 10,500 feet, which is the competition altitude of 4-way teams.

The Falcons explain that the lower exit altitude and shorter freefall time put more performance pressure on the team during the training. The audience will also be able to see that the Falcons complete around 15 scoring formations in the 40 to 45 seconds of available practice time. It seems like the goal of an 18+ average and the bronze medals are more than in reach.

Qatar is also the host of the next FIFA World Cup, and the Falcons are fans of the sport: Soccer or Football. The currently running FIFA World Cup is hosted by Russia, host of the FAI World Meet 2020 in Tanay.

It's not a team from the United States, Russia, France or Belgium, the powerhouses in Formation Skydiving competition, winning the FIFA World Cup. According to the Qatar Falcons, Brazil is the upcoming world champion, even though there are a few other guesses, including Belgium as one of the underdogs...