posted Oct 20th, 2007 - "We want that gold, it's out there, in reach. And we want that world record on our name."

HayaBusa Defence's Center Outside, David Grauwels, had made the above statement after Round 5 when his team had just lost a comfortable 3-point lead to the Golden Knights. He eventually got everything that he wanted, but it didn't come easily.

The Belgian team won the next round by one point and posted a new CISM world record with the 41-pointer in Round 7. However, even the new world record was not enough to shake off the Golden Knights. The meet was not over yet. The US Army team scored a 40-pointer in the same round and was only two points behind.

HayaBusa Defence was already a little bit lucky in the world record Round 7. Team videographer Danny Jacobs had his first serious challenge of the meet when he faced more distance to his team than usual after the exit. He was back and close early enough to get the score for the second point, but the video angle for the Yuan (D) was critical.

HayaBusa's 28-pointer in Round 8 brought the team to a 31.5 average at the end of the 8-round competition in India. However, the Golden Knights posted 29 points in the same round and lost the meet by one single point. It was an even closer finish than it seems to be with this 1-point difference.

HayaBusa Defence's video of Round 8 shows that the team lost the rhythm at the end of the 6th page, which affected the coming Block 22 (T - Chinese T) move. The working time had already run out when HayaBusa came to this critical point of the jump, and the 28-pointer won the meet. The same flaw at an earlier time of the jump might have changed the outcome.

The Golden Knights scored the 29th point but could not complete the long block move within working time. They had tried hard to make up for the 2-point difference going into Round 8 and almost made it. However, the US Army team finally had to accept that HayaBusa Defence won the meet.

The new set of gold medals at the 4th CISM Military World Games means a lot for the winners of the FAI World Cup 2007. There were no teams from the USA at the event in Russia. HayaBusa Defence was already eager to compare the team's performance level directly with the best US teams when the ESL Championship 2007 and the USPA Nationals 2007 fell on the same weekend in September. It did not work out since the competition draws were not synchronized, and the weather in Belgium allowed only the completion of a few rounds.

This week's competition in India applied a different dive pool and had other special rules. However, the Golden Knights offered the competition that the Belgian team was looking for, and the US Army team was well trained and in good shape. The results from India will most likely only boost HasyaBusa's confidence level.