December 2019: news from around the world

Here is a quick review of some events held under WASPA banner in December. We are waiting for the last few results of last month to publish the december rankings. Hopefully everything will be ready by the end of the week.

3 dedicated players in Javea

Spain: one more tournament in Javea
The Marina Citerior Club held a 15th "Tea Time Tournament" int he beginning of the month. Unfortunately the club is struggling to get new players but the usual members of the clubs are still very motivated to play together. italy's Pasquale Carrassi finished on top of a small league (with home and away games) with David Mc Aulay being runner-up and Bill Dunham taking the third place.

Presentation of trophies in Ilioupolis

Greece: Roligans Christmas Cup
The Roligans club organized a Christmas tournament on December 21. There were 13 competitors including a special guest of the new club of Ippovotes Chalkida Club. Evangelos Kotrotsos (U15) won the tournament while the runner-up was Tassos Priftis. This time the event was a knockout tournament and the players eliminated played for Category B. Therefore the winner of the B tournament was Dimitrios Rembis.

Players in Thessaloniki

Greece: Panorama still doing well
Also in Greece, the Panorama 1978 SC Thessaloniki organized a tournament with 6 players involved. This time Ioannis Terzidis took the honors after defeating Constantios Giapoutzis in the final (2-0) while Stavros Giapoutzis won the game for the third place.

Some good games in Donegal

Ireland: action in Donegal
Also the Republic of ireland saw some Subbuteo action in the end of December with three players competing in a group format in Donegal. Local organizer Brendan Rodgers finished on top of the table while clubmate Oisin McKeogh was runner-up and special guest from England Nick Pearson took the third place.

Richard Ruffolo - Howard Christie - Mike Sgro

Canada: Howard Christie does it again
This month's tournament in Toronto had a small turnout of three but there were many close games. Defending champion Mike Sgro could not win another event as Howard Christie won the final against Mike to win the "tournament of the decade".

Isle of Man: Joseph Kinrade is a winner
We have been extremely glad to see some action on the Isle of Man where Joseph Kinrade won the "Ellan Vannin WASPA Christmas Cup" after defeating brian Kinrade in the final. The tournament had a good turnout of four players including first time player Lisa Warren from England. The tournament was played as a group of five with the top 2 qualifying for the grand final.

Martin Wiesmann bringing Switzerland back on the WASPA map

Switzerland: Test match in Wil
Just a few days before the WASPA tournament in Eschenbach of January 5 (results coming soon), there was a test match between local player Martin Wiesmann and South Africa's Clinton Gahwiler from Cape Town. The game ended as a draw but more importantly it was a good way to have Switzerland coming back to the WASPA circuit with more good news coming up soon.

Two test matches in Cyprus

Giorgos Zangylos vs Christos Kotrotsos

 Two WASPA test matches have recently been held in Cyprus. Local organizer Giorgos Zangylos had the visit of Christos Kotrotsos (Greece) from the Roligans club and Massimo DalPrà from Bucharest and test matches were the best way to have some official games. Christos Kotrotsos won the first series 2-0 (1-1, 1-0, 2-1) on November 10 while the game between Giorgos Zangylos and Massimo DalPrà was decided on goal difference (1-2, 1-1, 3-1).

Massimo Dalprà vs Giorgos Zangylos

“Test match series” played under WASPA banner are a good way to promote friendly relations between players from different countries or different areas.

Find more details about test matches on the WASPA blog here: https://waspa-circuit.blogspot.com/p/waspa-test-matches.html

Test-match and tournament in Cyprus

Cyprus was in the spotlight this week-end with two very different WASPA happenings taking place on the island.

Massimo winner of the test-match

On Friday local organizer Giorgos Zangylos had the chance to host the first WASPA test-match of the season against Italy's Massimo Dalprà. Massimo lives in Bucharest, Romania and travels a lot for business. The Italian won the series 1-2 (scores were 2-0, 0-1, 0-3) and it was a special game as both players had already played a test-match together in May 2017, which Zangylos won. This is also a great way to remind everyone that test-matches are a great way to create links between players when there are not enough players to organize a tournament.

The final

On Saturday, the 5th tournament of the season took place in Limassol. There was a very good field of 13 players taking part with some new faces compared to the previous events. This time it was Marios Nikolaou (Phoenix) who took the honors after defeating Giorgos Zangylos (Famagusta) in the final. Marcos Kalopsidiotis (Salamis) and Demetris Bekos (Erimi) reached the semi-finals. In 5 events 24 different players have already competed in the domestic circuit, which proves the good health of the game in Cyprus.

WASPA test-match: Northern Californie vs California TSC

On Wednesday, March 28th, Conan Mullen (SoCo Subbuteo) of the Northern California Subbuteo Club hosted Paul O'Donovan Rossa of the California Table Soccer Club in the first ever "Northern California" WASPA Test Match. Paul made the journey up from Southern California for an evening of friendly and competitive Subbuteo matches, and handily took the Test Match honors, winning the 3-match series 2-1, 3-1, and 4-0. After which there were more training matches woth Paul sharing his experience and passing on valuable coaching tips to help Conan gear up for the California Table Soccer Club's upcoming Los Angeles FISTF Satellite/ASA Open in Newbury Park on April 7th.

A first test match in Florida

A test match was conducted between Dario Passadore and Bryan Arnold, members of the American Subbuteo Association, on February 16th. Dario, of the Florida Sharks Subbuteo Club, showed his great skill and style during each of his three wins on the day. A spirited defense and counter attacking were offered by Bryan, of the NoVA Union Subbuteo Club, but he was never able to present more competitiveness against his opponent, a long time Subbuteo player.

Test Match scores:
Dario 6-1 Bryan
Dario 3-1 Bryan
Dario 3-1 Bryan

Test matches in the US, Hong Kong and Spain

Several test matches have been organized in January.

Bryan and Andrew

In the United States, there was a test-match in Avondale, PA between Andrew Zunino (Pennsylvania) and Bryan Arnold (Virginia). Andrew won the series (1-0) after winning the first game and sharing points in the other 2 games (3-0, 2-2, 0-0).

Antoni, Eliot and Nicholas

Hong Kong saw also the come-back of some action under WASPA banner during the visit of Australia's Eliot Kennedy. Antonio Carabillo and Eliot played several games and Antonino ended as winner on goal-difference (3-1, 1-2, 2-2).

David and Pasquale

In Spain, Pasquale Carrassi (Italy) met David McAulay (Scotland) on January 20 and they played 5 games (instead of 3) with a final result of 4-1 for Pasquale.

Two test-matches in Greece

On November 13 and 14 the Flaming Flickers had the visit of Lorenzo David Carnevale from Italy who was visiting Athens at that time. The Italian player met local figures in two WASPA test matches. Panos Panagiotides won the session (2-0) against Carnevale and Stamathis Syrmos also won on a closer end (2-1). Games were played on Extreme Pitch. Local players were using TCHA4 arrow2 bases and Lorenzo used Astrobase CC2.

A first test-match in Hungary

This week-end Pasquali Carrassi from Italy (but he lives in Spain) was in Budapest and met local player Gábor Baross to play a WASPA test-match, the first one in Hungary. It was great to see such an international game in Budapest.

Pasquale won the first game (5-2) but Gábor won the next 2 games (6-0 and 5-1) to win the test-match (2-1).

There might be some more action in the country this week in Hungary. Stay tuned.

Massimo Conturso wins test-match

There was a WASPA test-match this Sunday in North Bergen, NJ where Andrea Gasparini met Massimo Conturso (Connecticut). Score were 3-0, 0-3 and 0-2 so Massimo won (1-2). Andrea also won a friendly game with old rules (1-0). Because of his job, Andrea will soon move back to Italy but will be back in the US from times to times. "So more than a goodbye, yesterday was an Arrivederci", said Massimo.

Some more news from Cyprus

Battle of the chiefs between Zangylos and Kalopsidiotis

Several events have recently been held in Cyprus. On May 7 a small field of 6 competed in the 7th tournament of the national circuit. Giorgos Zangylos defeated Marcos Kalopsidiotis in the final while Kyriakos Stylianou and Panagiotis Panaretos reached the semis.

The players on May 21

On May 21, the 8th tournament of the season had a special guest from abroad. Massimo DalPrà, who lives in Bucharest (Romania) was taking part. The Italian managed to reach the final but lost the game in sudden death against local hero Giorgos Zangylos. Semi-finalists were Marios Nikolaou and Marcos Kalopsidiotis.

Test match between massimo from Bucharest and local legend Giorgos

Giorgos Zangylos and Massimo DalPrà also played a WASPA test match using different sets of bases. The Cypriot defeated the Italian on goal-difference and both players were glad to share some experience together! Congratulations to all.

Zunino wins test match

There was Subbuteo action in Avondale, Pennsylvania on Saturday and the two involved players dedided to play "test match series" and to send it to FISTF. it was an interstate game between Pennsylvania (Andrew Zunino) and Virginia (Bryan Arnold). Andrew won the series (2-1) but more importantly, it was a great moment of sport between two fair players. Well done to both players!

First test match in Thailand

Today was another historic day for WASPA. The first ever WASPA test match in Thailand took place in Koh Samui where David Ruelle, former FISTF European champion from Belgium, was happy to meet Australia's Hugh best for some games.

David (who now lives in Thailand) won the test match but more importantly both players had a great time, flicked some plastic and had a few drinks. Well done!

Another Test Match in California

Peter Thomas from Australia visited Paul O'Donovan Rossa in Huntington Beach on Sunday 9th April 2017. It was great for both players to meet again, the last time was at the 2014 Rochefort World Cup. Paul and Peter decided to play a WASPA Test Match and the results were as follows:
Paul v Peter 1-3, 1-1, 2-4. So, Peter wins!

"They were hard fought games and close at times but Peter retains and is still developing a real quality in his game. Of course, as it was Sunday and nice weather.... we forgot to take a photo", said Paul after the games.