posted Oct 1st, 2013 - The host of the Mondial Dubai 2012, Skydive Dubai, did not only have the goal to present a unique event to the skydiving world. It was also the opportunity to show that the United Arab Emirates have become a solid part of the Formation Skydiving community with teams and competitors in all events.

The Dubai project began years ago, and hosting the Mondial 2012 was one step on the way to generating world champion teams in the longer term. The Sun Path Products NSL News reported earlier this year that VFS 4way team Dubai Nexus now won the first gold medals for the United Arab Emirates at the World Cup 2013 in Banja Luka.

Eliana Rodriguez, Craig Girard and Alena Chistova (4way Women) have the job to get the traditional Formation Skydiving teams ready to pursue international medal positions in the future. Their teams have been around the world to compete at many events, and the latest trip brought the Dubai delegation to the USPA Nationals 2013.

USPA Nationals 2013		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	4way AAA	G,9,C,P	F,5,15	1,E,8	4,M,7	H,N,B,O,3	14,20,L	Q,K,12,17	11,16,19	10,A,18	2,22,D	Total	Avg
9	Dubai Asaar Black	22	16	10	16	15	13	15	15	14	13	149	14.9
10	Dubai Asaar Ladies	20	13	14	14	19	12	15	15	10	13	145	14.5
7	Dubai Asaar Yellow	17	15	12	13	17	11	11	11	9	9	125	12.5
Rank	8way Open	22,2,21	19,A,5	N,E,H,B,Q	O,G,1,J	9,F,3	20,K,15	M,D,P,11	17,16,14	6,10,7	C,4,13	Total	Avg
5	Dubai Asaar 8	11	11	13	12	11	13	9	11	11	13	115	11.5

All five teams, including VFS 4way team Dubai Nexus, were registered as guest teams and could not win any USPA medals. Nexus still confirmed the current top spot in the VFS 4way world by outscoring once again the other guest team from France, Team4speed SD, at Skydive Chicago.

The NSL leaderboard still placed the Dubai teams disregarding the guest team status. The five teams were in unusual categories this time. The national team Asaar Black is used to compete in the Open Class, and Dubai's "farm team" Asaar Yellow competed in the Open Class at the World Cup, as well. However, coach Eliana Rodriguez used the opportunity of a better matching field to sign up Asaar Yellow for USPA's Advanced Class competition.

The Dubai Asaar Ladies are used to having their own category with other female lineups at the international FAI/IPC events and was a part of the Open Class competition at the USPA Nationals. The new 2013 lineup ended up at both events between Asaar Black and Asaar Yellow.
Click on the score for a round with a link to see the teams' videos

World Cup 2013		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	O,4,H,3	9,17,P	L,1,G,12	7,10,21	16,E,A,15	8,2,B	18,5,Q	F,14,K,N	M,C,D,13	20,J,19	Total	Avg
6	Dubai Asaar Black	16	15	13	15	20	16	17	18	17	13	160	16.0
5	Dubai Asaar Ladies	15	16	13	12	15	12	13	17	14	14	141	14.1
15	Dubai Asaar Yellow	14	15	12	10	10	12	11	11	-	-	95	11.9
Rank	AAA Class	O,4,H,3	9,17,P	L,1,G,12	7,10,21	16,E,A,15	8,2,B	18,5,Q	F,14,K,N	M,C,D,13	20,J,19	Total	Avg
5	Dubai Asaar 8	15	9	9	10	10	10	11	14	13	14	115	11.5

The Sun Path Products NSL News asked three members of the Dubai delegation at Skydive Chicago to talk about their experiences this year. Eliana Rodriguez joined the conversation and introduced Abdulrahman Almaamari (Asaar Yellow), Ali AlNeyadi (Asaar Black) and Abdulaziz Shukari (Asaar Black) to the audience.

The same complete Dubai delegation had also competed at the World Cup 2013, and the modified leaderboard has links to most of the meet videos in the traditional Formation Skydiving events.

The Dubai Asaar 8way lineup finished at both events with exactly the same meet average. Former Airspeed 8way world champions Craig Girard and Eliana Rodriguez have guided the Dubai 8way team to a very respectable performance level. Dubai Asaar kept up with the Brit Chicks in Banja Luka and outscored US team TurbOcho at the USPA Nationals. The next 8way competition will be on home turf again at the 4th Dubai Cup.