posted Dec 3rd, 2018 - The Weembinamic 2018 was concluded on Saturday, and the different competition format created several upsets, the most prominent one on the very top of the 8-way leaderboard.

The traditional leaderboard is showing the Qatar Falcons in 1st place after the ten rounds at Weembi Lille, while the Weembi Girls won the actual Weembinamic championship and defended their 2017 title successfully. Both teams had finished in the same order on the traditional leaderboard at this year's French Indoor Nationals.

The NSL leaderboard is showing clearly what happened at this year's Weembinamic. The Qatar Falcons dominated the first six rounds and were 16 points ahead of the Weembi Girls by then. The last four rounds then showed a completely different picture. The Weembi Girls won each round and cut the total deficit to seven points.

The all-female team with seven French and one Italian member, Amnesya's Chiara Brunetti, picked up the pace at the right time for this competition format, as the last rounds are the most important ones. All teams completed three qualification rounds, which set the rankings and accordingly the pairings in the following elimination rounds.

Weembinamic 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way		P,12,6	C,10,3	K,G,B,22	L,A,8,4	M,G,O,18	H,D,N,11	7,2,E	17,J,21	16,5,13	F,9,19	Total	Avg
1	Qatar Falcons	QA	26	27	29	24	25	28	18	21	21	20	239	23.9
2	Weembi Girls	FR	23	25	24	24	24	23	22	22	23	22	232	23.2
3	Veloce QRF 1	FR	23	22	24	20	23	23	17	15	22	18	207	20.7
4	Véloce Vair8maxxx	FR	20	22	22	21	21	22	15	19	20	16	198	19.8
5	Airbus	DE	18	17	18	18	21	20	17	14	20	17	180	18.0
6	Veloce QRF 2	FR	16	18	18	18	18	19	15	15	17	16	170	17.0
7	Les French Tuktuk	FR	17	15	17	15	17	19	15	16	15	15	161	16.1
7	After 8	FR	13	18	16	19	18	17	16	15	15	14	161	16.1
9	Hotchpotch	BE	16	17	18	15	17	17	15	13	15	14	157	15.7
10	8 Way Otter	FR	14	16	18	17	18	16	12	16	14	14	155	15.5
11	Witbiz	FR	13	17	12	16	18	14	16	13	14	13	146	14.6
12	Veloce QRF 4	FR	14	14	13	15	17	13	14	14	17	14	145	14.5
13	Veloce QRF 3	FR	12	17	15	17	18	15	14	12	12	12	144	14.4
13	IN'huit	FR	12	15	18	14	16	15	13	12	15	14	144	14.4
15	Le Grand Huit	FR	13	12	15	14	12	13	9	12	14	11	125	12.5
16	Rojuhafacribensé	FR	9	8	11	10	10	10	10	7	7	10	92	9.2

Final rounds in 4-way AA - 4-way AAA and 8-way at the Weembinamic 2018

Weembinamic 2018 Finals 8-way		Round 9	Round 10	Total	Rank
Rojuhafacribensé	FR	7	10	17	16
Le Grand Huit	FR	14	11	25	15
Veloce QRF 4	FR	14	13	27	14
Witbiz	FR	17	14	31	13
Veloce QRF 3	FR	12	12	24	12
IN'huit	FR	15	14	29	11
Hotchpotch	BE	15	14	29	10
Les French Tuktuk	FR	15	15	30	9
8 Way Otter	FR	14	14	28	8
Veloce QRF 2	FR	17	16	33	7
After 8	FR	15	14	29	6
Airbus	DE	20	17	37	5
Véloce Vair8maxxx	FR	20	16	36	4
Veloce QRF 1	FR	22	18	40	3
Qatar Falcons	QA	21	20	41	2
Weembi Girls	FR	23	22	45	1

Round 4 was the first part of the following face-offs between two teams. Winners and losers then advanced in certain ways that are defined by a bracket order. Three more 2-round face-offs move teams up and down until two teams meet each other for the finals in the last two rounds. All previous scores are eliminated before the next face-off stage.

No teams are really eliminated, as they continue to meet a new team after winning or losing the previous face-off. The final leaderboard can easily have a very different outcome compared to the traditional one, especially in the middle of the field where the teams are usually closer to each other.

However, the major upset at the Weembinamic 2018 happened on the very top of the 8-way leaderboard. The Weembi Girls did not only win the final 2-round showdown with the Qatar Falcons in Round 9 and Round 10. They had already shown in the semifinals of Round 7 and Round 8 what the Qatar Falcons would have to be ready for in the finals.

The momentum was surely on the Weembi Girls side after Round 8, even though the Qatar Tigers easily defeated the French team Veloce Vair8Maxx in the semifinals (39 - 34), while the Weembi Girls neither had a problem with the Veloce QRF signature lineup at the same time (44 - 32).

Eventually, the Qatar Tigers could neither stop the Weembi Girls momentum in the finals nor find the same performance level for themselves that they had shown in the first six rounds. They were still seven points ahead on the traditional leaderboard after Round 10, while the Weembi Girls won the Weembinamic 2018.

The German showdown between the national 8-way team Airbus at their first indoor competition versus the three German members in the well trained Veloce QRF signature lineup (Petra Baerenfaenger, Henning Stumpp, Uwe Soppa) materialized only on the traditional leaderboard. Airbus lost the duel against Veloce Vair8Maxx in the quarterfinals who then met Veloce QRF directly in the finals for a bronze medal showdown. Airbus finished behind both French teams on the traditional leaderboard, as well.