posted Apr 11th, 2023 - The attention of the NSL News goes back to the upcoming FAI Indoor World Championship. An indoor competition in France and yesterday's NSL Live Talk with Gary Smith and Kirk Verner provided new information that had an impact on the NSL Power Rankings in 4-way Women and in 4-way Open.

NFTO, British outdoor world champions in 4-way Women, were expected to be one of the indoor top contenders, as well, as the NSL News reported on March 26th. Then they attended Weembi Lille's FS Cup last weekend and convinced Gary Smith and Kirk Verner that they are actually the top favorite for the FAI gold medals in 4-way Women at the indoor world championship.

Gary Smith and Kirk Verner both cannot be present in Slovakia. Gary Smith has to travel to Qatar very soon to continue his work with the new 4-way teams. Kirk Verner has a lot of extra work at Paraclete XP to compensate for Jeana Billings who has been helping XPG4 after Shannon Catalano's withdrawal.

However, they took the time for new NSL Live Talk, even though they were already at very different locations, with Gary Smith still on his home island of Texel in the Netherlands. They agreed that NFTO is the team to beat in 4-way Women, even though they are still expecting the three other top contenders with the potential to take the 1st place away from the British team.

Weembi FS Cup 2023			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		19,17,5	13,21,14	G,F,10,16	J,15,7	3,9,B	6,D,8	C,22,18	11,H,12	4,Q,P,L	O,A,E,M,K	Total	Avg
1	NFTO	UK	29	22	28	29	35	23	22	16	34	50	288	28.8
2	Nice Fano	FR	25	20	24	28	31	20	21	21	31	42	263	26.3
3	Unicorns	FR	26	20	27	27	27	23	18	21	30	43	262	26.2
4	FCUK Weembi	FR	21	20	24	23	30	21	17	21	29	42	248	24.8
5	Vedett	FR	20	18	21	20	23	19	17	15	23	37	213	21.3
6	Bandits Revolution	FR	18	15	17	19	16	19	17	15	15	27	178	17.8
7	Garudas	BE	12	11	16	11	20	17	12	10	21	33	163	16.3

---

NFTO at the Weembi FS Cup 2023

---

NFTO won eight of the ten rounds at Weembi Lille last weekend, tied Round 6 with Unicorns and gave away Round 8 after five point deductions. The 28.8 average was boosted by the 50-pointer for Weembi's new obligatory Super Sequence in Round 10.

Gary Smith and Kirk Verner, two of the most experienced 4-way and 8-way competitors and coaches in the history of the sport, pointed out that the competition between the four teams in 4-way Women is so tight that each round will have to be treated with special attention, as if it were its own separate meet.

The situation is even more tense than in 4-way Open, where Arizona Airspeed is expected to run away once again from the rest of the field with the gold medals, while France and NMP PCH HayaBusa may battle for the 2nd place at this point in time. However, in both events, one of the four top contenders will finish outside of the medal positions. Gary Smith and Kirk Verner expect France, HayaBusa and Tigers closer to Airspeed at the outdoor world championship in Israel 2024, while the indoor slots in 4-way Open seem to be better defined before Round 1 in Slovakia.

FAI Indoor World Championship 2023			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women Power Rankings		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	NFTO	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	France 4-way Women	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	HF Cubs	CZ	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	XPG4	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Piteraq	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	Airdrops	CH	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7	Windabona Angels Chicas	ES	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7	Fire Phoenix	IT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7	Kiss My Grips	SK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

---

NSL Live Talk with Gary Smith and Kirk Verner on 10 April 2023

---

Gary Smith and Kirk Verner had more insights for the NSL News and the audience, which had an impact on the 4-way Open Class competition at a different part of the NSL Power Rankings preview leaderboard.

They agreed that Italy's new national indoor team, FLY X, has the potential to finish in the group of teams behind the four medal contenders, which will make the battle for the 5th place even more exciting. FLY X was put together at the beginning of the 2022/2023 indoor season and won the qualification for Slovakia at Poland's Flyspot Open 2022, as the NSL News reported on 16 November 2022.

The addition of FLY X to the group of contenders for the 5th place creates a new challenge for all teams who were hoping to make the Top 10 in Slovakia. The four teams who are now right behind the 10th place have to outscore at least one of the six teams ahead of them to claim a Top 10 finish. This battle will be just as exciting as the competition for the medal positions and for the 5th place.

Gary Smith and Kirk Verner expect INIT-Y from Brazil with the most promising potential to make the move up into the Top 10. One of the remaining questions is who might be the team possibly falling out of the Top 10. Each of the ten rounds will probably be just as relevant at this part of the leaderboard as the two experts explained it during the conversation for the 4-way Women competition.

FAI Indoor World Championship 2023			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Power Rankings		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	France 4-way Open	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Jochen Schweizer Arena Airfource	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Echochamber Oceanside	SE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	FLY X	IT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	HF Flying Circus	CZ	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Meraki	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Papea	ES	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
11	INIT-Y	BR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
11	Out of the Blue	NL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
11	Purple Maze	FI	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
11	Realfly Fire	CH	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
15	Agera	NO	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
15	Bronteroc	HU	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
15	FlySpot Sky4Four	PL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
18	Magic 4	LT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
19	Red Bull Aerodynamix	AT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-