posted Jan 7th, 2016 - The Sun Path Products NSL News reported on December 27th that two teams completed 40 competition rounds within the two weeks of the Clash of Champions 2015 and the World Air Games 2015: Black Cat and Dubai Asaar's Black 4-way team.

Dubai's delegation competed on indoor and outdoor home turf and consisted of three 4-way Open Class teams (Asaar Black - Gold - Red), the Asaar Ladies in 4-way Women, 4-way VFS team Amudy, the Asaar 8-way lineup and several international pickup teams at the Clash of Champions, who signed up for the United Arab Emirates.

Dubai Asaar Black, UAE's national 4-way team, still with player coach Craig Girard in the lineup, had the busiest agenda representing the United Arab Emirates at both events in 4-way and in 8-way.

Clash of Champions 2015			Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7	Rd 8	Rd 9	Rd 10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way AAA Class		L,F,C,7	5,6,19	2,9,3	G,A,12,10	B,11,22	16,1,21	K,M,18,P	E,O,J,8	Q,17,15	N,H,4,D	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	34	26	30	30	37	34	35	25	31	42	324	32.4
2	France Weembi	FR	29	22	25	26	30	30	28	27	28	34	279	27.9
3	Tanay	RU	29	22	20	22	31	30	27	23	25	38	267	26.7
4	Thund8rbirds	BE	24	23	22	22	21	28	28	23	24	35	250	25.0
5	Qatar Falcons	QA	24	19	20	21	25	24	20	19	23	26	221	22.1
6	Dubai Asaar	AE	21	19	19	19	20	23	22	19	21	26	209	20.9
7	Monaco Vitalsea	MC	7	13	16	14	13	11	17	18	17	22	148	14.8

Clash of Champions		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	J,13,8	K,20,5	9,21,19	C,3,6	7,O,15	A,18,1	2,H,P,D	16,L,11	E,N,10,B	12,Q,F,22	Total	Avg
12	Dubai Asaar Black	21	22	21	22	24	24	29	23	23	23	232	23.2
18	Dubai Asaar Gold	19	17	21	19	19	17	21	17	18	16	184	18.4
21	Dubai Asaar Red	14	14	17	14	16	15	18	14	4	0	126	12.6

Dubai Asaar Gold was not far behind though. The second half of Dubai's 8-way team missed only the 4-way competition at the World Air Games, as only one national team was invited by FAI/IPC.

The indoor 4-way competition of the Clash of Champions was the most challenging event for Asaar Black, as the strongest 4-way field in the history of the sport made it very difficult for all teams just to make it to the Top 10 on the leaderboard.

Asaar Black finished with the highest average (23.2) that any team from Dubai has ever posted, and it was just enough for the 12th place at Inflight Dubai. It was a similar situation at the World Air Games where Asaar Black finished with a new outdoor record average (19.4) as well. A 17.1 average was enough for Asaar Black at the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2014 to make it to the finals. The 19.4 average at the World Air Games was actually the 7th place behind France, despite the new team record average.

World Air Games 2015			Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7	Rd 8	Rd 9	Rd 10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		20,13,4	F,L,B,G,P	22,D,7	14,O,5	9,C,J,H	19,K,3	Q,17,E,A	15,21,18	12,16,1	8,11,2	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	22	33	19	19	18	22	21	22	29	17	222	22.2
2	Tanay	RU	17	26	17	14	19	21	17	17	24	13	185	18.5
3	France Weembi	FR	16	23	13	15	16	20	17	17	22	13	172	17.2
4	Dubai Asaar	AE	14	17	13	14	15	16	16	16	15	11	147	14.7
5	Qatar Falcons	QA	13	16	14	10	13	16	15	14	16	11	138	13.8

The situation in 8-way was just as interesting from the Dubai perspective. Asaar's 8-way lineup was as new as the one of the regional rival, the Qatar Falcons.

Craig Girard and Eliana Rodriguez started building an 8-way lineup next to the 4-way teams as soon as they had moved to Dubai. First impressive result was a place in the finals at the Mondial Dubai 2012 with an 11.1 average.

A setback followed at the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2014 where Dubai's 8-way team did not even make the semifinals after several personnel changes. However, Craig Girard and Eliana Rodriguez, both former 8-way world champions, did not give up on their Asaar 8-way vision and began to re-build the team.

World Air Games 2015			Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	T.	Avg
R.	4-way Open		B,C,17,2	N,19,4	13,14,F	6,E,O,L	7,1,A	D,18,P,22	M,H,5,15	16,9,12	21,K,G,Q	11,20,3	T.	Avg
1	NMP PCH Hayabusa	BE	29	26	23	36	28	23	31	24	27	22	269	26.9
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	29	27	22	36	28	19	29	25	30	20	265	26.5
3	Black Cat	RU	23	23	21	30	21	21	26	23	27	19	234	23.4
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	22	21	17	28	23	19	27	19	21	17	214	21.4
5	Evolution	CA	21	22	17	28	20	15	24	20	22	16	205	20.5
6	FLY-IN	FR	24	20	18	29	20	17	19	19	22	-	188	20.9
7	Dubai Asaar Black	AE	21	20	17	20	20	17	23	19	20	17	194	19.4
8	Vision 99	UK	18	12	15	23	18	15	18	17	-	-	136	17.0
9	Rotor Out	AU	17	16	14	22	17	15	21	13	-	-	135	16.9
10	Ex3mo	IT	16	16	12	21	16	17	14	15	-	-	127	15.9
11	AtomiX YUU	DE	14	12	14	20	16	13	17	14	-	-	120	15.0

One year later, Craig Girard is guiding the new 8-way lineup as the player coach with great success. Dubai Asaar's 8-way lineup finished with a 20.9 average at the Clash of Champions, and it became even better at the World Air Games.

The new Qatar Falcons, with coach Gary Smith, had outscored Dubai Asaar (22.1 - 20.9) at the indoor competition. Craig Girard's Asaar Black/Red combination then finished with a 14.7 average at the World Air Games, nine points ahead (14.7 - 13.8) ahead of the Falcons.

Both teams are now preparing for the Mondial 2016 where they will have a very realistic chance to make it to the finals once again. The internal mid-eastern question is who will have the upper 8-way hand at Skydive Chicago in September...