posted Aug 17th, 2008 - The World Meet 2008 was quite a rollercoaster for the Belgian national team Hayabusa Defence, and it ended up with a happy end and the first set of world championship medals for Belgium.

Hayabusa had defeated the French national 4-way team at last year's FAI World Cup in Russia after a jump-off and had good reasons for high hopes going into the World Meet 2008. A year of hard work and a lot of training prepared the team well for last week's event in Maubeuge, France.

It was enough to win the first set of medals for Belgium, however, it was not enough to win the gold medals. The NSL News invited the Hayabusa members for a live interview at the press room in Maubeuge, just shortly after the last round of competition was completed, and the scores were posted.

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The team members were far from being disappointed. It was once again a very lively interview, and coach Joey Jones was with the team, as well as a young member of team Hayabusa Beta, Waedong So.

It looked for a while as if Hayabusa would be able to repeat last year's coup and stay ahead of the French team, as the Belgium team was still one point up on France Maubeuge after six rounds. Hayabusa was only three points behind Airspeed Odyssey at that time. Round 7 ended Hayabusa's quest for gold medals, as the Belgian team lost three points to Airspeed Odyssey and France Maubeuge. The 25-pointer was the lowest score of all six top contenders. Hayabusa finished with a better Round 8 and still had to settle in third place.

A new meet video, provided by iScore of the French judging system, presents Hayabusa in Round 4. It was the second round where the Belgian team outscored Airspeed Odyssey and was still in the hunt.

The NSL News asked the team for a brief evaluation of the performance in Maubeuge in the interview on Thursday. The team members also provided very new information of the team's future.

Hayabusa Defence will continue in full strength but with a new team member. Center Inside Luc Verstrepen, who replaced Sven Ibens after the World Meet 2006, steps back. He has been one of the oldst and longest standing world meet competitors and finishes his career in Formation Skydiving competition with the first medal, shortly after his birthday in Maubeuge.

His teammates were happy about the very special birthday gift they had for him with the bronze medal. They had already the same special feast for him at the World Cup 2007 in Russia where the birthday gift came in form of a gold medal.

David and Andy Grauwels and Roy Janssen knew already who will take Luc Verstrepen's slot from here on. Young Hayabusa Beta member Waedong So was already the alternate at the World Meet 2008 and will begin training with the new linup very soon. The team did not know exactly which slot he will fly. However, it is a fact that this will reduce the average age of the lineup significantly and set the Belgian team to the same age level as the other young world-class lineup from France.

Hayabusa Defence of 2007 and 2008 eventually finished with World Cup gold medals and a 3rd place at the World Meet with a 23.9 average, three points behind France and four points behind Airspeed Odyssey. Hayabusa Defence of 2009 can have only the highest goals for the future. They match at least the goals of the French 4-way team...

The NSL News interview with Hayabusa Defence can be viewed by clicking here.