posted Apr 22nd, 2020 - The NSL News recently pointed out the special relationship of two ISR FireFlash members (Sven Ibens, Wesley Claessens) with Egor Gusev and Dmitry Samokhval of the Russian 4-way team IFS-Moscow. The story on April 17th was still a part of the Wind Games aftermath where all of them competed with their current teams.

The special relationship came from a 10-year period of close competition between their previous teams (Thunder ISR - SportLoto) and the duels between ISR FireFlash and IFS-Moscow between 2017 and 2020.

The first part of this interesting story of a decade of 4-way competition between the four teams explained that each of the two current teams, ISR FireFlash and IFS-Moscow, had the above mentioned two members in their lineups, who met each other meet after meet in this decade (2011 - 2020).

IFS-Moscow actually has even three current team members who trained and competed together between 2011 and 2020. Yury Drozdov was also in the original SportLoto lineup, together with Egor Gusev and Dmitry Samokhval, and he only missed the team's last meet at the World Challenge 2015, where Vladimir Pavlenko filled in for him. Andrew Kharitonov was the 4th SportLoto member.

SportLoto versus Thunder ISR and IFS-Moscow versus ISR FireFlash between 2011 and 2020

SportLoto and Thunder ISR met each other for the first time at the World Challenge 2011, which was the first competition for the Russian team. Thunder ISR went into the third year with the same lineup, after training and competing randomly under the team name 4XTT in 2009 and 2010. Paul Hofstee was still a member of the Dutch national team Dynamic Fource at the same time.

SportLoto, with former Kaktus Hunter team mates Egor Gusev and Andrew Kharitonov continuing with the new team, had the head start and won easily (25.5 - 22.4) in Bedford. However, the Belgian/Dutch combination caught up quickly and finished six points ahead at the only outdoor competition that any of the four teams attended together, the FAI World Cup 2012 in Prostejov.

Thunder ISR and SportLoto then met each other at the next three World Challenges (2013 - 2015) and finished with a 2-point advantage for the Russian team after all 30 competition rounds (754 - 752). Thunder ISR won the last duel by three points at the World Challenge 2015.

This was the end of the first part of the duel, even though Thunder ISR were not done yet and added another year, while Yuri Drozdov, Egor Gusev and Dmitriy Samokhval took a break to re-build a new team.

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FAI World Cup 2012			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		1,19,2	14,18,15	N,16,20	E,6,J,A	C,K,9,13	F,8,11	Q,22,L,21	B,17,H,P	12,D,O,4	G,10,7	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	21	19	22	33	31	22	23	40	24	26	261	26.1
2	Thunder	BE	20	17	20	24	27	20	20	31	20	19	218	21.8
3	SportLoto	RU	16	17	21	29	20	19	20	31	19	20	212	21.2
4	Satori	UK	16	15	17	28	23	19	20	25	19	20	202	20.2
5	Aerodyne Deep Blue Defenders	FR	16	15	17	27	21	17	20	31	19	16	199	19.9
6	Ex3mo 4	IT	17	12	17	28	20	15	19	28	17	15	188	18.8
7	Magic 4	LT	12	9	11	16	15	13	11	20	10	14	131	13.1
8	May Team	UA	11	8	8	16	12	11	11	17	13	-	107	11.9
9	Quagis	UK	6	6	6	9	8	7	8	8	4	-	62	6.9
10	Turkey	TR	5	6	6	7	8	7	7	9	5	-	60	6.7
11	Cyprus	CY	2	4	5	8	3	7	6	8	6	-	49	5.4

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The Russian SportLoto 3-way came back in 2017, now with Dmitry Komkov in the lineup. IFS-Moscow attended a total of nine indoor meets after the re-start, only one of them with a substitute. Alena Chistova competed for IFS-Moscow at the World Challenge 2019 where they posted the team's 30.9 record average.

Sven Ibens and Wesley Claessens had joined forces with Maya Van Campenhout and Glenn Straeluyc in the meantime, and both teams met for their first new duel once again in Bedford. The Russian team had a similar head start as in 2011, this time coming back with even three former SportLoto members, while Maya Van Campenhout and Glenn Straeluyc had to get used to the world's "amateur top level".

The new Russian IFS-Moscow lineup with Dmitry Komkov maintained a consistent progression and did not allow ISR FireFlash to get closer - until the Wind Games 2020. The Belgian team had left behind the severe injury that new member Glenn Straeluyc had to recover from, after his work accident in 2019.

Both teams showed up with their complete current lineups in Spain, and IFS-Moscow won again. However, the difference was down to 12 points in January, the closest one in the second part of the 10-year duel period. It is unknown when both teams will have a new opportunity and the next duel for the unofficial "amateur" top spot.

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Wind Games 2020			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class - Top 10		Q,F,6,14		1,13,4		8,J,15		O,9,D,5		21,A,P,H		N,C,20,12		7,G,K,19		10,16,22		17,E,11		M,B,3,L		Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	32	-1	29		28	-1	44	-3	45		29		35		25		34		47		348	34.8
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	34		24	-1	29		45	-2	41		29		34	-1	23		34		39	-1	332	33.2
3	SDC Rhythm XP	US	33		25		27	-1	44	-1	41		26		30	-3	23		30	-2	41	-2	320	32.0
4	IFS-Moscow	RU	27	-3	20	-3	25	-2	45	-2	36	-1	25	-1	30	-1	23		29	-2	33	-5	293	29.3
5	ISR FireFlash	BE	30		23		26		39		36		22	-1	27	-2	20		29		29	-4	281	28.1
6	Weembi Unicorns	IT	28		23		26		42		36		23		29		20		22	-4	26	-3	275	27.5
7	NFTO	UK	28		21		22		38		36		21		27	-1	18		24	-3	32	-1	267	26.7
8	Echochamber	SE	28		21		22		37		35		21	-1	23	-2	19		26		29	-4	261	26.1
9	Nephtys Weembi	FR	26		19	-1	20	-1	35		32		22		26	-1	19		22	-2	32	-1	253	25.3
10	Oceanside AtomiX	DE	25	-2	21		19	-2	31	-1	31		19		27		17	-1	22	-1	31		243	24.3

IFS-Moscow - ISR FireFlash at the Wind Games 2020

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