posted Aug 8th, 2007 - It was a split 3-2 decision against Hayabusa Defence, and it created all the additional drama that a 4-way fan can only dream of. France won the last round by one point, and the jump-off for the gold medals is scheduled for Thursday morning.

The French 4-way team still has not posted a sole highscore for a round yet and did not even tie the highest score for the last Round 10. However, they beat Hayabusa Defence by one point, and that's what counted the most.

FAI Controller Dr. Rainer "Exi" Hoenle reported that Hayabusa Defence looked nervous and shaky: "They could finally be glad that they did not have to swallow two busts around points 16 and 17. France had a slow start but posted a 20-pointer at the end."

Both scores are obviously not the top scores for the round and show the pressure on both teams. Russia's Black Cat had the highscore with a 23-pointer, and the Sky Panthers almost caught up again to the very top position with a 22-pointer.

The Panthers tried everything in the last two rounds to make up for the lost ground in Rounds 6 and 7. They finally missed the two leaders by only one single point after ten rounds. It could have been a 3-team jump-off. However, the Sky Panthers will not jump again, and the bronze medals will be handed out to the Russian team later.

The jump-off sequence (H-A-18-5) seems to favor Hayabusa Defence. It includes memory, and the Belgian team has not lost any memory round against the French team yet. Four memory rounds have challenged the teams so far, Hayabusa won two of them by one point over France (4 and 5), the other two rounds (7 and 9) were tied.

On the other hand, the jump-off rules put more pressure on the Belgian team. The highest score of the meet will be the tie-breaker if the teams match their scores once again in the jump-off Round 11. Both teams have 30-pointers as their highest scores posted in Round 9.

Next, the highest score starting with the last completed round and continuing in reverse order, round by round, will break the possible tie. France won Round 10 by one point and would have the final advantage. Hayabusa cannot afford another tied score in the jump-off round and has to use the sequence to the team's advantage. Stay tuned for more 8-way scores.