posted Dec 10th, 2021 - Yesterday's closer look at the growing success of Qatar's Formation Skydiving delegation mentioned at the end that there is more behind the FAI 8-way bronze medals of 2018 and the 4-way bronze medals this August at the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020.

The evidence for the potential of becoming the newest 4-way and 8-way powerhouse and joining United States, France, Belgium and Russia consistently in the battles for any FAI medals is coming with the latest scores of the Cheetahs and the Lions. The NSL News has pointed out the progression of Qatar's two farm teams on a regular basis, and the recent visit at the USPA Nationals was the next and a big step for both teams.

USPA's national championship was the first event for Cheetahs and Lions in the AAA Class. They did not enter USPA's Open Class competition, however, the Advanced Class dive pool and rules are identical with the Open Class, and their coaches were probably planning to put some more pressure on the teams by letting them compete for the top positions on the Advanced Class leaderboard.

Only Cheetahs coach Luc Verstrepen, former NMP PCH HayaBusa member, was with the teams at Skydive Arizona, together with 8-way coach Jeremie Rollett and the Qatar Falcons. Lions coach Marin Ferre did not make the trip to Arizona after the team's visit at the French Outdoor Nationals.

---

USPA Nationals 2021			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Advanced		13,5,D	Q,9,4	F,14,C,10	H,L,20,N	18,22,19	11,J,E,8	6,7,K	G,15,12	M,2,21	16,A,P,O	Total	Avg
1	Lightspeed XP	US	17	19	16	20	14	16	16	13	17	19	167	16.7
G	Qatar Cheetahs	QA	14	22	17	18	13	13	15	13	17	20	162	16.2
G	Qatar Lions	QA	10	17	14	19	12	16	17	12	17	20	154	15.4
2	SDC RhEvolution XP	US	15	17	14	14	10	12	16	13	17	17	145	14.5
3	NE Chicken Bolts	US	10	19	16	18	11	14	15	7	16	16	142	14.2
4	Vega XP	US	12	15	14	11	11	16	13	11	12	14	129	12.9
5	AZ Defiance	US	13	14	12	14	10	12	13	11	14	15	128	12.8
6	Elsinore Main Street	US	10	14	13	13	10	11	14	10	14	15	124	12.4
7	Kombucha Punch	US	10	15	10	13	8	11	13	9	14	13	116	11.6
8	Air Force 9 Ball	US	8	14	6	13	9	7	13	7	13	14	104	10.4
9	Megalodon Juan	US	9	12	10	13	8	10	11	6	13	10	102	10.2
10	Platinum XP	US	9	13	9	13	8	8	11	7	12	11	101	10.1
11	SDC Rheology	US	7	11	6	10	8	11	10	7	11	11	92	9.2
12	Frikken Slot Lizards	US	8	10	9	9	7	8	9	6	9	10	85	8.5
13	Tequila	US	6	9	7	9	7	10	9	5	11	11	84	8.4
14	Paragon	US	5	10	8	10	8	6	10	6	10	9	82	8.2
15	Perris WildKatz	US	7	9	6	6	6	6	7	5	12	7	71	7.1
17	Four-Inners	US	7	10	8	7	7	6	3	5	10	5	68	6.8
18	Richo's Tummy Butts	US	3	7	3	7	3	2	3	4	7	5	44	4.4

---

Qatar Cheetahs and Qatar Lions at the USPA Nationals 2021

---

Cheetahs and Lions both attended the Belgian Outdoor Nationals before they parted ways. The Lions moved on to France with Marin Ferre, the Cheetahs to Germany with Luc Verstrepen, as the NSL News reported on September 16th.

Both events were probably the last ones in the AA Class for both teams. They merged again in Eloy for their first appearance on a AAA Class leaderboard. There they also met their fellow Qatar competitors of the Falcons 8-way team.

Cheetahs and Lions posted their first scores in the A Class competition of the ESL Championship 2019. They could not attend any meets in 2020 and resumed this year, each of the teams at two meets on AA Class leaderboards.

The Cheetahs mastered their first ten meet rounds with the complete dive pool almost exactly on the same scoring level where they had finished in the AA Class at the German Outdoor Nationals, while the Lions launched their AAA Class career an average point lower.

---

Belgian Outdoor Nationals 2021			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class		22,19	D,20,C	K,E,F,G	21,18	M,4,J	15,H,1	O,N,P,Q	6,B,11	A,2,9	14,8	Total	Avg
1	Cheetahs	QA	13	18	25	14	22	17	31	17	20	11	188	18.8
2	Lions	QA	15	17	25	13	17	16	25	15	18	13	174	17.4
3	High Voltage	BE	7	7	17	7	12	9	18	10	9	9	105	10.5

---

Qatar Cheetahs and Qatar Lions at the Belgian Nationals 2021

---

However, the Lions have still reduced the distance to the Cheetahs in the meantime. They were 14 points behind on the AA Class leaderboard in Belgium(174 - 188) at the beginning of September, and they lost by only eight points (154 - 162) at the USPA Nationals.

In fact, the Cheetahs won this duel only with a much better first half of the 10-round meet (84 - 72) in Eloy. The Lions won the second half (82 - 78) where they gave away only Round 8 by a point. The Lions did not only keep up with the Cheetahs in the last five rounds. They also outscored even the USPA winner, Lightspeed XP, by one point.

It seems like this internal Qatar duel will offer more interesting competition in the near future. Both teams are now comparing their scores directly with Qatar's national team, the FAI bronze medal winners of the Tigers.

The internal duel between Cheetahs and Lions could be productive and push the teams quicker to higher performance levels. None of the Qatar teams traveled to Dubai for the 6TH Dubai International Parachuting Championship 2021, which has a very small field this year, as well. The NSL News will soon follow up with scores and videos from Dubai.