posted May 14th, 2015 - The Sun Path Products NSL News reported on May 2nd that Skydive Dubai is hosting the next edition of the World Air Games, which creates an attractive indoor/outdoor competition package together with the Clash of Champions at Inflight Dubai.

The previous editions of the World Air Games took place in Turkey (1997), Spain (2001) and Italy (2009). The format was identical in 1997 and 2001 when the World Championship of Formation Skydiving was included in the World Air Games. It was very different in 2009 when only five 4-way teams were invited to the event, as the Sun Path Products NSL News reported on February 4th, 2008.

The 4-way competition in 2009 was eventually canceled, and six years went by until the next World Air Games will be held at the end of this year in Dubai.

The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) is sanctioning the World Air Games and has defined this year's event:

"The World Air Games, conducted under the rules of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), is the premier international multi-discipline air sports event fielding the world’s top Air Sports athletes. The FAI’s primary goals for this event are to determine FAI World Air Games Champions; to showcase air sports to the general public and promote public participation in air sports by attracting new participants to air sports disciplines; to promote FAI events to other sports organisations and create an attractive platform for TV, media and other external stakeholders."

Skydive Dubai and the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates, have proven extraordinary hosting qualities in the past years, with the annual Dubai International Parachuting Championship and the Mondial 2012, and made it easy for the FAI to sanction the new event.

World Meet 2014			Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		E,3,C,5	F,6,D,21	19,H,2	M,4,1	O,14,A,P	8,J,16	7,11,12	22,20,15	17,G,18	13,B,9	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	32	29	25	25	33	25	22	18	26	29	264	26.4
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	31	27	25	24	31	23	22	17	24	29	253	25.3
3	Evolution	CA	31	28	24	22	28	23	20	21	25	27	249	24.9
4	VoltR	FR	24	26	18	23	26	20	20	13	24	21	215	21.5
5	Barkli	RU	24	23	20	22	25	21	19	16	18	26	214	21.4
6	Dubai Asaar Black	AE	18	20	17	17	20	14	15	13	17	20	171	17.1
7	Vision 99	UK	18	20	16	16	19	15	15	13	16	-	148	16.4
8	Paratec-Saar	DE	19	23	18	14	22	16	15	13	7	-	147	16.3
9	Rotor Out	AU	17	19	17	17	21	14	13	12	15	-	145	16.1
10	eX3MO 4	IT	18	17	16	15	17	15	14	11	14	-	137	15.2

This year's format is a new mixture of previous World Air Games regulations. The World Championship of Formation Skydiving was fully integrated in the World Air Games of 1997 and 2001 without any limitations. In fact, the world meet was one of the major parts of the event in both years. The 2009 event had a completely different approach in Formation Skydiving competition.

The format of the World Air Games 2015 was announced by the FAI on March 9th, 2015, and it included three Formation Skydiving categories: 4-way Open, 4-way Women, 8-way Open. It is an invitational competition this year and not open for all national teams, as it used to be in 1997 and 2001.

The national federations of ten countries were invited to send their 4-way Open Class teams. The selection is according to the Top 10 rankings at the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2014, where the national teams of the invited countries made the first cut after Round 8.

World Meet 2014			Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		E,3,C,5	F,6,D,21	19,H,2	M,4,1	O,14,A,P	8,J,16	7,11,12	22,20,15	17,G,18	13,B,9	Total	Avg
1	French Girls	FR	21	25	22	20	27	21	18	17	19	24	214	21.4
2	Golden Knights	US	22	25	21	21	23	18	16	15	19	24	204	20.4
3	Kaizen	UK	15	20	16	18	19	14	14	13	15	17	161	16.1
4	Fuzion	CA	17	16	17	15	16	14	11	12	13	16	147	14.7
5	Infra Red Band	RU	12	12	14	15	16	16	13	9	14	11	132	13.2
6	Les Stunts	BE	14	14	13	14	16	13	8	11	10	12	125	12.5

Only six nations were invited for the 4-way Women competition, which matches the number of teams after the Round 9 cut in Prostejov last year. However, Belgium, with national team Les Stunts in 6th place at the world meet, was not on the list of invitations.

The 6th slot in 4-way Women was offered to the host, whose national team, the Dubai Asaar Ladies, did not complete the world meet after an injury. The other Top 5 nations are invited.

The situation is similar in 8-way where Australia did not receive an invitation. Only the Top 5 nations of last year's world meet were selected by the FAI. The 6th slot was reserved for the host's national 8-way team, Dubai Asaar, who had finished right behind Australia.

World Meet 2014			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		E,3,C,5	F,G,D,21	19,H,2	M,4,1	O,14,A,P	8,J,16	7,11,12	22,20,15	17,G,18	13,B,9	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	24	22	15	26	22	21	19	26	21	20	216	21.6
2	Barkli	RU	19	18	13	25	14	16	16	19	18	13	191	17.4
3	Venturi	FR	19	16	14	23	18	13	18	19	15	16	190	17.3
4	Microclim8	UK	14	14	11	15	12	13	12	15	12	13	131	13.1
5	M8Trix	NL	15	13	11	17	11	13	13	15	10	12	130	13.0
6	Australia	AU	12	13	11	18	11	12	12	12	10	12	123	12.3

The national federations now have to decide which team they want to send to Dubai in December.

The invitations were sent to the IPC Delegates, and the national federations will make the final call. The invitations did not select the teams directly.

Some of the teams who competed at the world meet in Prostejov will have to be replaced. France and Russia (Tanay) have new 8-way teams.

The teams in 4-way Women are the same, just with some changes in the lineups, with a question mark behind Russia (Infra Red Band).

Other question marks are behind Russia, Germany and Great Britain in 4-way Open.

Black Cat won last year's national championships in Russia, and Germany's Paratec-Saar team has disbanded, with new national champion Airbus in 4-way control. Voodoo is the reigning UK 4-way champion and does not seem to continue this year. UK's new 4-way champion of 2015 might have the best chances to be selected by the British Parachute Association.