posted May 14th, 2021 - The NSL News updates related to Qatar's Formation Skydiving delegation do not end with the current situation of the Falcons in 8-way and the Tigers in 4-way, even though both teams have progressed from just joining the international Formation Skydiving competition community to becoming medal contenders in both events.

The beginnings of Qatar's Formation Skydiving competition project were a part of yesterday's NSL News update. Forming two competitive teams, one for each traditional event, was the main goal at that time, and DeLand Majik 4-way world champion of 2004, Solly Williams, was working on accomplishing the first part.

Yesterday's update mentioned that the 4-way and 8-way lineups were eventually separated, and both teams could focus only on one event. The results of this planning and execution have now become tangible with two medal contenders from Qatar, the Tigers in 4-way and the Falcons in 8-way.

The first decade in the Formation Skydiving competition world was obviously convincing enough. Qatar decided to continue with the efforts, after building their own skydiving centers and a wind-tunnel in their own country on the Arabian Peninsula.

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Shamrock Showdown Cloud 2021			1		2		3		4		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		1,J,3		Q,K,D,H,L		F,B,C,22		18,E,21		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	24		53		32	-1	24		133	33.3
2	Skydive Midwest NEXT	US	16		25	-3	22		16		79	19.8
3	XPG4	US	16		25	-1	20		16		77	19.3
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	20	-1	0		24	-3	21		65	16.3
5	CPI Legacy	US	13	-1	19	-1	14	-2	12		58	14.5
6	Quiet Riot	US	12		19		14	-1	12		57	14.3
Rank	AA Class		1,J,L		Q,K,D,H		F,B,C,22		18,E,21		Total	Avg
1	Qatar Cheetahs	QA	17		23		16	-1	13	-1	69	17.3
2	Just 4 Fun	US	7	-2	11		11		9		38	9.5

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Qatar Cheetahs at the Shamrock Showdown Cloud 2021

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The next step was only logical, as the two national teams alone would not be enough to support the long-term goals. The Qatar Tigers said in the NSL Live Talk on 16 December 2020 that they may continue forever, after starting together from the AFF level.

Despite the Tigers' passion for the sport and their team, it is always beneficial for the top teams to have a recruiting ground to go to when they need new team members. The potential is limited in Qatar without much civilian participation in the sport. The members of the national teams are state-employed by police and military.

The success of the Falcons and Tigers encouraged the Qatar management of the Formation Skydiving delegation to recruit two more 4-way teams and hire two more experienced coaches to work with them, Luc Verstrepen (Qatar Cheetahs) and Marin Ferre (Qatar Lions).

Together with Gary Smith (Qatar Tigers) and Jeremie Rollett (Qatar Falcons) they work with the Formation Skydiving delegation and prepare a new generation of competitors for the time when the national teams will need new team members.

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ESL Championship 2019			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	A Class		F,E,A	J,4	M,8	2,9	Q,6	21,N	L,P,7	19,O	Total	Avg
1	Lions	QA	13	7	11	7	11	9	11	10	79	9.9
2	Falcons	QA	18	9	11	8	9	9	8	6	78	9.8
3	Cheetahs	QA	17	7	7	9	8	8	11	10	77	9.6
4	Hight Five	CZ	13	6	11	7	9	8	12	10	76	9.5
5	British Army Volt4ge	UK	19	9	7	7	7	7	9	6	71	8.9
6	High Voltage	BE	12	10	8	9	8	8	8	6	69	8.6
6	Funky Falcon	NL	12	7	11	8	8	7	8	8	69	8.6
8	Huayra	BE	12	8	8	7	8	7	6	9	65	8.1
9	Black Devils	BE	11	7	4	7	6	3	7	8	53	6.6
10	Oljakoda	BE	9	4	5	3	6	5	5	6	43	5.4

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Qatar Lions at the ESL Championship 2019

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The recruiting project began even earlier, and there were several changes in the lineups between the three 4-way teams who competed as guest teams in the A Class competition of the ESL Championship 2019. The Cheetahs and the Lions then defined their final lineups, and the training with their new coaches and teammates began.

The Qatar Cheetahs, with coach Luc Verstrepen, took on the same four sequences of the Shamrock Showdown 2021 that the teams at Skydive City and their national 4-way team had performed before. They submitted their videos from the last training camp in Portugal and now have their scores on the AA Class leaderboard.

The Cheetahs have moved from a 9.6 average in the A Class competition of the ESL Championship to the 17.3 outdoor average on the AA Class leaderboard after the four rounds of the Shamrock Showdown.

The format of the NSL competition draw created another interesting situation on the leaderboard, where two of the four rounds had identical sequences between the two categories. The Cheetahs outscored two of the AAA Class teams in both rounds. It would be no big surprise to see the Cheetahs competing in the AAA Class at their next competition.

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Shamrock Showdown Cloud 2021			1		2		3		4		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		1,J,3		Q,K,D,H,L		F,B,C,22		18,E,21		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	24		53		32	-1	24		133	33.3
2	Skydive Midwest NEXT	US	16		25	-3	22		16		79	19.8
3	XPG4	US	16		25	-1	20		16		77	19.3
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	20	-1	0		24	-3	21		65	16.3
5	CPI Legacy	US	13	-1	19	-1	14	-2	12		58	14.5
6	Quiet Riot	US	12		19		14	-1	12		57	14.3
Rank	AA Class		1,J,L		Q,K,D,H		F,B,C,22		18,E,21		Total	Avg
1	Qatar Cheetahs	QA	17		23		16	-1	13	-1	69	17.3
2	Just 4 Fun	US	7	-2	11		11		9		38	9.5

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