posted Jan 17th, 2013 - The NSL News audience is usually performing very well and accurately when it comes to the prediction of results at upcoming meets. The NSL Polls for the Mondial Dubai 2012 were right on the spot between France - USA in 8way, USA - Belgium - France in 4way Open, and for the winner in VFS 4way.

Only the prediction for the female 4way category was off the pace. The audience expected the Golden Knights in 1st place, and the Aerodyne Deep Blue Defenders won the gold medals. Russia's team Illusions had the bronze medals in the polls, but Polaris from Norway did not even give the Russian team a chance of getting close.

The recent NSL Poll is related to the latest NSL News column "Turning Points" in the Blue Skies Mag. There is a vast majority (75%) of voters so far who would like to see Skydive Dubai continue as the host for World Championships of Formation Skydiving. The poll will remain open until the IPC Delegates meet in February to vote for the next host in 2014.

Mondial Dubai 2012		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	4way Women	5,12,E	6,D,B,K	O,8,7	N,13,18	10,21,M	19,H,11	C,G,1,A	20,9,15	16,F,P,Q	2,J,4	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne DB Defenders (FR)	18	28	19	16	18	19	21	19	30	19	207	20.7
2	Golden Knights (US)	19	27	21	15	18	19	21	17	26	18	201	20.1
3	Polaris (NO)	15	25	19	14	16	16	21	15	21	16	178	17.8
4	Bodyflight Langar (UK)	10	20	15	13	12	14	18	14	23	14	153	15.3
5	Sky & Sand (DE)	13	17	13	10	13	13	16	11	21	12	139	13.9
6	Danish Divas (DK)	10	16	14	10	13	12	16	13	19	13	136	13.6
7	Fire (SE)	10	16	14	12	12	14	16	11	17	-	122	13.6
8	China Women (CN)	9	17	13	8	12	14	15	12	21	-	121	13.4
8	Australia Women (AU)	12	16	14	12	10	13	14	11	19	-	121	13.4
10	Illusions (RU)	15	21	14	11	14	12	17	13	0	-	117	13.0

NSL-TV now follows up with some videos that were missing when Round 8 of the female 4way competition was featured last week. It was a very important round, and InTime kindly provided the missing video files to complete the coverage.

The Golden Knights had successfully protected the 1-point lead after the first four rounds through the next three rounds. Then came Round 8, and the Aerodyne Deep Blue Defenders had decided to attack and pick up the pace. They outscored the Golden Knights by two points and took the lead for the first time in Dubai.

It was almost like a new and different team competing for France in the last three rounds. The Defenders won Round 8 and then never looked back. The last three rounds all went to France by a total advantage of seven points. Martial Ferre (Veloce.fr) features the grande finale of the female 4way competition in one of his entertaining and colorful videos.

It was a very similar situation between Sweden and Denmark. Round 8 was also the turning point in this battle for the last slot in the finals. Fire from Sweden had a 3-point lead going into Round 8 after a tight 7-round competition with the Danish Divas.

The team from Denmark then won Round 8 by two points, which reduced the Swedish lead to one single point. The Divas followed up in Round 9 and stole the last slot in the finals in the very last minute by winning Round 9. It was another 2-point round to the advantage of Denmark, and it came at the right time.

Russia's 13-pointer in Round 8 was also the end for the Illusions who had to withdraw due to an injury before the semifinals. They were actually 13 points ahead of the Danish Divas by then and had earned the slot in the semifinals. In fact, the Illusions were in 4th place before the withdrawal, and the video shows the last meet jump of the team.