posted Aug 19th, 2020 - The last HayaBusa update from Belgium came on July 15th when the whole team was available for NSL Live Talk, except for videographer David Grauwels. NMP PCH HayaBusa had returned from the first outdoor training camp at Skydive Paranodon in Illertissen, Germany, and the topics were mostly related to the technical side of the front and rear pieces.

HayaBusa have now resumed their training on Belgian home turf in Spa, and they had completed another outdoor training camp with almost 100 jumps when new team speaker Andy Grauwels and coach Gary Smith were available for an update on ZOOM.

Andy Grauwels is now the only original HayaBusa member in the active lineup, after his brother David has switched to the camera slot as soon as the FAI Mondial 2020 was canceled and rescheduled for August 2021. According to the earlier planning, David Grauwels would have made the same move after the end of the world meet this month in Tanay, Russia.

NMP PCH HayaBusa decided quickly to bring new member Michelle Silvi into his inside center slot when the decision to cancel the event added another year to the time frame until the next World Championship of Formation Skydiving.

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FAI World Meet 2018			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		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	Golden Knights	US	24		21		18		24		19	-2	29		21		18	-1	17		33		224	22.4
2	Tanay	RU	21	-1	21		17		22	-1	20		28		16	-1	18		18		28	-1	209	20.9
3	Qatar Falcons	QA	19		16		15		18	-1	14	-1	21		16		14	-1	14		23	-1	170	17.0
4	MicroClim8	UK	17		15		12		14	-1	15		21		15		12	-2	13		18	-1	152	15.2

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Coach Gary Smith has been working with the new lineup since they resumed with indoor and outdoor training after the 4-month break due to the corona virus crisis. Travel restrictions are still in place in Europe, and the Belgian world champions stay on home turf for any training. Only coach Gary Smith is traveling back and forth between his home on Texel in the Netherlands and the training sites in Belgium.

Gary Smith has also been working with the Qatar Tigers until the pandemic shut down any training for the Qatar formation skydiving teams completely. He said that Tigers (4-way) and Falcons (8-way) have neither made one single jump since the shutdown nor have any indoor training options.

The Qatar Falcons won FAI bronze medals at the FAI Outdoor World Meet 2018 and were planning to be once again in the race for 8-way medals in Tanay. The Qatar Tigers had even higher goals and were hoping to challenge NMP PCH HayaBusa with their longest standing lineup of all medal contenders.

Gary Smith did not know when he will be able to work with the Qatar Tigers again, as the country is still under pandemic restrictions.

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FAI World Meet 2018			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		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

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Qatar Falcons and Qatar Tigers at the FAI Outdoor World Meet 2018

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Andy Grauwels and Gary Smith both said that they are missing opportunities for competition practice. The upcoming Paranodon Cup in Illertissen, Germany, could have been one of the opportunities. However, HayaBusa does not have the event in the team schedule, which was created considering the travel restrictions and logistical difficulties due to the ongoing corona virus crisis.

The 4-way world champions are planning to use the NSL Cloud Mondial 2020 instead for a simulated competition practice. The online event will still put some pressure on the participating teams, as scores and videos will be posted to the general audience as soon as the competition videos are collected and judged.

The NSL Live Talk with Andy Grauwels and Gary Smith took place a day after the official cancellation of the USPA Nationals 2020, as the NSL News reported yesterday. NMP PCH HayaBusa had originally planned to visit Skydive City in November for this year's event, as they had traveled to Paraclete XP last year to meet the best U.S. teams in competition.

HayaBusa's travel plans for November 2020 were already canceled earlier, and Skydive City's decision to step back from the hosting position confirmed the Belgians and their own decision.