posted May 13th, 2004 - The NSL News reported earlier that the three top teams from France, USA and Italy will compete at the IPC Anton Malevsky Memorial World Cup 2004 at the end of June in Russia. France Maubeuge, DeLand Majik and Sinapsi PD will most likely win all the medals at this year's World Meet in Croatia and also grab the $28,000 prize money for the first three places in Russia. The only open question seems to be who will end up in which position, first in Stupino, Russia, and then in Croatia in September.However, both events have much more to offer than only the race for the cash and the medals. The teams at the world meet will also compete for the honors of the next positions behind the medals and the inofficial "amateur title", while the Malevsky World Cup even offers serious cash for the teams in 4th, 5th and 6th position ($5,000 - $4,000 - $3,000). The race for these additional money slots in Russia promises great competition, as well.

Amateur Championship

Nine other teams have signed up for the Malevsky World Cup to date. This field incudes Arcteryx, the new Norwegian national 4-way team, the Swiss national team Endeavour, the German national team EADS, the Danez from Denmark and the national team from Ukraine. Team Ivanovo will compete on their Russian home turf. The remaining three of the twelve teams are national teams of the female category. V-Max, the current world champion from the United Kingdom, Italy's national team Kewara and the Chicas from Germany will not have their own competition class at the Malevsky World Cup. However, the event organizers "wish to recognise the achievements of female teams that have entered the 2nd IPC Anton Malevsky Memorial World Cup in Formation Skydiving (4 way open) and will award separate medals to the top 3 female teams competing at the meet."

Especially V-Max and Kewara might not be satisfied with only medals of the female category. Both teams will also have their eyes on the cash prizes for the 4th, 5th and 6th places. V-Max posted a 16.5 meet average when the British team won the Mondial 2003 in France. The team actually resigned after this great success and did not even try to qualify as UK's national team for this year's World Meet. However, the team members are still current enough and travel to Russia without any pressure. It would not be a big surprise if V-Max were able to perform on the same scoring level at the Malevsky World Cup.

The Italian team Kewara is eager to step up to the V-Max scoring level in the same female category. Kewara is not a new team. In fact, the Italian team was very close to a medal position already at the Mondial 2003. The US team Synchronicity barely shook off the Italian challenger to win the bronze medal in Gap. Kewara posted a 14.8 meet average after ten rounds and not very much training in 2003. The team was motivated after the exciting race in France and continued with increased efforts. Kewara currently holds their second winter training camp with coach Solly Williams at Skydive DeLand in Florida. DeLand Majik member Williams also guided V-Max to the world title last year. The Italian team can now most likely be expected at a similar scoring level as V-Max in 2003. The first Kewara 2004 scores might already be posted at this weekend's FSL meet in DeLand.

Both V-Max and Kewara would probably be in contention for cash positions at the Malevsky World Cup with a scoring level between 16.5 and 17.0 average. The German national team in the female category, Chicas, will most likely not be able to keep up with this pace. The Chicas competed at the Mondial 2003, as well, and finished with an 11.1 meet average. The team had a personnel change and has not trained enough to move up to the British or Italian scoring level. However, V-Max and Kewara will still face tough opposition in the run for the money. EADS, the Danez, Arcteryx and Endeavour are not willing to give up their claims for the cash slots easily. The NSL News will introduce these teams later.