Carl Young wins in Penrith

There was a good turnout of seven at the first tournament of the season held at Mega Games Penrith. Among the old had (Paul Magee, Eliot Kennedy), a local player (Anthony Ilacqua), the british guys (Carl Young from Melbourne, Peter Thomas from Canberra, Mike Newton from Flinders), there was also a "special guest" as Ignacio López Campbell from Chile was on a business trip in Sydney and had a chance to attend the event. Unfortunately Brett Davis was ill and couldn't attend. We wish him a quick recovery. The event was played in swiss format with Carl Young winning the trophy with 10 points, Peter Thomas finishes second, Eliot Kennedy third and Mike Newton fourth. Mega Games has announced the next tournament will be held on November 17 at 11.00 am.

Carl Young

Australian players in the world rankings

In the FISTF rankings of August 2013, a few Australian players are mentionned.
Robert Green is 597th in the Open category. Robert is also 142th in the veterans while Gerald Brightwell is 211th.
The top 5 Australian players in the WASPA ranking of August 2013 are: Carl Young (55), Mike Newton and Brett Davis (64), Eliot Kennedy (66), John Devaney (70).
Australia is 12th in the ranking of nations.

First tournament in Toongabbie

There were two tournaments in Australia this week-end and the one in Toongabbie attracted nine players. It was a good tournament and not only because it was a way to celebrate Adrian Elmer's birthday. Imojjen Elmer was also playing her first tournament. She's only 12 and was introduced to the game by her father. In the end, after the group stage, host Adrian Elmer lost on shots to Alex Jennings in the first semi while Phill Parker beat Costa Kamarados. In the final, Phill and Alex tied (1-1) but Alex won on shots to claim the trophy. Congratulations to everyone involved!

Adrian in the semi

Alex Jennings is the winner of the tournament

Nice group picture!

Robert Green at the world cup

Congratulations to Robert Green who was the Australian representative at the FISTF world cup in Madrid (Spain). Robert was supposed to come as a spectator but was invited to replace a last minute drop-out in the veterans. Robert lost to Juan Carlos Granados Cuellar from Spain (0-4), Manfred Pawlica from Austria (0-7) and Thomas Vulpes from Germany (0-2) but he met a lot of old and new friends. Well done!

Bob with Ben staples from England

A tournament in Toongabbie

WASPA has just been in touch with another group of players in the Sydney area. Adrian runs a subbuteo tournament every year in september for 15 years now. As a coincidence, the date of this year's tournament clashes with the Penrith tournament as it will be held on September 14. The good thing is that Adrian and his friend might be able to attend other tournaments in Penrith or in the area in the future. Anyway, Adrian's tournament will have the WASPA status this year.

Adrian reported he has been a subbuteo fan for many years: "Subbuteo has been very quiet in Australia for a long time. I went to a tournament once as a teenager in the late 80s and there were 50 or so competitors, but there hasn't really been anything much since then! Every year around september I have a look around online to see if anything is around and was very happy to see the australian website, which has only appeared since the last tournament my friends and I had! So, I've been in contact with them and will hopefully be able to get involved."

Interested players should get in touch with Adrian at ajebec@netspace.net.au to try to arranger more games in the future!

Robert Green played in Finland

Robert Green recently attended the FISTF Grand Prix of Helsinki in Finland. Robert played int he Open category and finished in the third place of his group after beating Ile Tuominen from Finland (3-0), losing to Marko Karhunen from Finland (0-5) and Gabriele Silveri from Italy (0-1). Robert was allowed to play also in the veterans. He tied with local player Kari Hakkarainen (1-1) and beat Ile Tuominen (4-0). In the semi-final, Robert lost to George Papadopoulos from Greece (0-4).

Robert will attend the FISTF World Cup in madrd this week-end as a spectator and will later play again in Finland on October 19.