posted Nov 13th, 2019 - Coach Luc Verstrepen explained in the recent NSL Live Talk how he and his French coaching colleague Marin Ferre have been preparing a new generation of Formation Skydiving competitors from Qatar in three farm teams (Lions - Falcons - Cheetas) for high-level performance in the future with either Qatar's national 4-way team, the Qatar Tigers, or with the Qatar Falcons in 8-way.

Qatar has become a Formation Skydiving powerhouse since Tigers and Falcons have moved up to the world's top level in the two traditional Formation Skydiving events, 4-way Open and 8-way Open. The new project that Luc Verstrepen is a part of is supposed to secure this power position in the near future.

The first great success of the project was recorded when the Qatar Falcons won 8-way bronze medals at the FAI Outdoor World Meet 2018 in Australia. Coach Jeremie Rollett is working on the challenging defense of the FAI bronze medals next year in Tanay, Russia.

In the meantime, NMP PCH HayaBusa coach Gary Smith has quietly continued the 4-way work that Jeremie Rollett had done previously with the Qatar Tigers in 4-way. He is now spending most of his coaching time with the Qatar team, while the Belgian 4-way world champions have learned to conduct their training business with less attention by the coach.

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Asiana Championship 2019			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		H,O,Q,K,16	L,6,G,2	C,14,A,N	19,F,20	D,J,P,9	M,7,E,4	18,15,B	10,5,17	21,3,11	1,12,8	Total	Avg
1	Qatar Tigers	QA	31	23	27	22	37	27	21	21	18	17	244	24.4
2	China 4-way Open	CN	19	17	22	19	33	22	17	17	15	13	194	19.4
3	China 4-way Women	CN	16	14	11	13	17	16	10	7	12	11	127	12.7
4	Bahrein	BH	14	14	11	14	19	13	9	9	12	11	126	12.6
5	Indonesia	ID	8	10	10	8	11	12	8	6	9	5	87	8.7
6	Oman Wolf	OM	9	7	7	6	8	10	3	6	5	6	67	6.7
7	South Korea	KR	6	6	8	6	7	5	6	4	6	6	60	6.0
8	Thailand	TH	2	3	2	2	3	6	4	1	3	5	31	3.1

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Gary Smith has recently spent a long time period in China where both teams, NMP PCH HayaBusa and Qatar Tigers, competed at the CISM World Championship. NMP PCH HayaBusa returned home after the event, while the Qatar Tigers followed up at the Asiana Championship shortly afterward.

The NSL News pointed out earlier how the Qatar Tigers have carefully and quietly improved their performance and scoring level with consistent training and attendance at 4-way events. The two recent events confirmed once again how they move closer to the next medal position, this time in 4-way Open.

The 32.0 average at the CISM World Championship is a new team record for their participation in the military format, even though it does not appear in the team records of the NSL database, due to the different rules.

However, it is more the 24.4 average at the Asiana Championship that impresses once again and is promising on the Tigers' road to Tanay 2020. The 24.4 average at the second event in China last week is another new team record, this time for ten rounds applying the FAI/IPC competition format.

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FAI World Meet 2018			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open - Top 10		21,L,B,G		22,18,17		19,7,O		J,16,12		10,A,D,15		Q,M,F,C,N		H,20,P,13		6,14,11		E,2,5		4,1,3		Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	32		21		27	-2	24		22	-3	62	-2	22	-2	20	-1	27	-1	22		279	27.9
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	26	-5	21		27	-1	24		24	-1	60	-1	26		22		27		20		277	27.7
3	Aerodyne Realfly	FR	29	-1	19		24	-2	23		24		52	-3	20	-3	17	-3	24		19		251	25.1
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	24	-2	14	-1	24	-1	21		22		53	-4	21	-1	18		20		17		234	23.4
5	Echochamber	SE	25	-1	16		21	-1	17	-2	20	-1	48	-4	14	-3	18		21	-1	15	-1	215	21.5
6	Amnesya	IT	24	-2	14		20	-1	18		18	-1	48	-5	18		14	-2	21	-1	15		210	21.0
7	Airheads	CH	22	-3	14	-2	19	-2	17	-1	18		44		16		16	-2	18	-1	17		201	20.1
7	Satori XL	UK	21		14	-1	21		19		19		37	-3	19		17		18	-1	16	-1	201	20.1
9	Evolution	CA	21	-1	13	-2	22		18	-1	15	-3	43	-2	15	-5	15	-2	19		15		196	19.6
10	Airbus FSZ Saar	DE	21	-1	14	-1	17	-5	17		16	-1	45	-1	15	-3	14	-1	18	-1	15		192	19.2

Qatar Tigers at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2018 in Australia

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The situation for Gary Smith and the Qatar Tigers is very promising, as the last FAI bronze medal winner in Australia 2018, France, does not have a strong 4-way Open Class team at this point in time. The new French 4-way lineup is a part of the French 8-way team, which has top priority until Tanay 2020.

The Qatar Tigers had already moved up to the 4th place at the last world meet, with only France in the way of the first 4-way medals for Qatar. The Tigers had finished in 5th place in 2016 and a 22.6 average at Skydive Chicago.

The recent 24.4 average could move the Qatar Tigers even within striking distance of FAI silver medals next year. NMP PCH HayaBusa seem to be out of reach for any other 4-way team in the world, while the 2nd place could be in reach. SDC Rhythm XP, the U.S. national team in 4-way Open next year, currently perform somewhere between the 26.2 average at the USPA Nationals and the 22.8 at the FAI Outdoor World Cup.

The Qatar Tigers also have the advantage of focusing only on the 4-way event, while two Rhythm members (Steve Lefkowitz, Andrew Happick) have trained and competed in 8-way with Paraclete XP8, as well. Qatar Tigers and NMP PCH HayaBusa will soon visit Skydive City in Florida for outdoor winter training, and the NSL News will have the opportunity to follow up.