Another perfect evening for Simone Trivelli

Last wednesday, the italian club of SS Lazio Roma held the 7th leg of the WASPA Lazio League 2013/14 in swiss system with four round and 13 players present. For the fifth time this season, Simone Trivelli won the event after winning 4 games. Trivelli beat Stefano Tagliaferri in the last session (4-1). Tagliaferri finally shared the second place with Claudio Paolino while Paolo Barone and Simone Lo Iacono also took 9 points. Trivelli is the leader of the WASPA Lazio League and he is sure to win the final classification before the last leg to be held in June.

Mike Parnaby wins again in Thornaby

8 players contested the latest WASPA event to be held on Teesside on 30th May 2014. There were some great games, some very close indeed. Mike Parnaby won the night with three very narrow wins but he was pushed all the way by Ben Staples and John Bottomley. New boy Rob Heseltine scored his first goals ever and also got his first win. Jeff Parsons, Andy Mill and Chris Kaberry all travelled a good distance to take part and all got good results for their efforts.

Date of next NETFA Teesside WASPA tournament will be 20th June 2014.

WASPA tournament at the Major of Bologna

There are more and more good signs of collaboration between FISTF and WASPA. This week-end's FISTF Major of Bologna (Italy) will see a huge of international players from many countries playing for official titles but besides the big event, there will be a "vintage tournament" on saturday. The event will of course be played with the old rules and count for the WASPA circuit.

Special thanks to Riccardo Marinucci, the big boss of the Bologna Tigers, for accepting the offer. Rudi Peterschinigg and Alberto Gagliardi will be the WASPA delegates for the tournament. Good luck to everyone.

Details about the Major at http://www.bolognatigers.com/index.asp
List of entries for the event at http://www.bolognatigers.com/entrance.asp

Malaysia is now part of the subbuteo family

Nothing more needed to realize Subbuteo was part of the show

Awesome presentation for the subbuteo demo

The Hartamas Tigers club in Malaysia was in action last week-end at the Putrujaya festival. Everything was about soccer and there were thousands of spectators to discover Subbuteo. Jamie Kong and his clubmates had the chance to get help from Kaspar Bennett, the former FISTF World Cup finalist, who spend a lot of time and energy to explain the game to newbies.

Kaspar Bennett (right) spent a lot of time and energy to explain the game to newbies

Kaspar gave the trophies to the winners

Besides the exhibitions, two small tournaments were held under WASPA banner. On saturday, the "promotional event" was organized for younger players and Muhammad Farihin (15) beat Muhammad Hanif (11) in the final (1-0). On sunday, the Open tournament counted as "WASPA regional" and Zafar Zawawi (29) beat Azmat Bade (30) in the final to win the trophy.

Presentation of the trophies for the Open tournament

Beautiful trophies were offered by the Minister of sports

To finish on a very positive note, many contacts have been made during the festival and there big plans to have more exhibitions and tournaments in June.

Mike Dent's table was used and decorated with flags of the nations taking part to the forthcoming football world cup

Souvenir postcard of the festival

2014 Pennsylvania Subbuteo Championship

On Sunday, May 25, 2014, seven players competed for the first Pennsylvania Subbuteo Championship. The players were placed in two groups, a group of four players and a group of three players. The top two finishers in each group would compete for the Pennsylvania Subbuteo Championship while the remaining three would play in the consolation round, the Mushroom Bowl. The player with the highest points average would get a bye into the championship of the Mushroom Bowl.

In group A, Paul Eyes and Neil Rivera qualify for the Pennsylvania Subbuteo Championship; Adolfo Colindres receives a bye to the Mushroom Bowl final with a 1.333 points average while Andrew Zunino will participate in the play-in game for the Mushroom Bowl Final.

In group B, Daniel Cranston and Matthew Steinmuller qualify for the Pennsylvania Championship while Jamie Zacharda will participate in the play-in game for the Mushroom Bowl Final.

The Mushroom Bowl - Play-in Game:
Andrew Zunino defeated Jamie Zacharda 2-0

The Mushroom Bowl Final:
Adolfo Colindres defeated Andrew Zunino 1-0 to win the Mushroom Bowl

Adolfo Colindres (right) gets his trophy from Andrew Zunino

The Pennsylvania Subbuteo Championship - Semi-Finals:
Paul Eyes defeated Matthew Steinmuller 2-0
Daniel Cranston defeated Neil Rivera 3-0

The Pennsylvania Subbuteo Championship:
Daniel Cranston captured the Pennsylvania Subbuteo Championship by defeating Paul Eyes 3-2.

Daniel Cranston

Final Standings
1. Daniel Cranston
2. Paul Eyes
3. Neil Rivera
4. Matthew Steinmuller
5. Adolfo Colindres
6. Andrew Zunino
7. Jamie Zacharda

(Report by Andrew Zunino)

Ouabi Rouis captures WASPA title at the Stadium de Imagio Open

In conjunction with the opening of the latest table football venue in Singapore, Stadium de Imagio, host and veteran player Michael Choong welcomed nine other players for a World Cup-themed WASPA tournament.

Back Row (L to R): Bernard, Azhar, Fadhly, Fauzi, Ouabi

Front Row (L to R): Rudy, Anas, Michael, Nic, Vikas 

Format of Competition

The 10 players were randomly drawn into two groups of five players each, and competed on a round-robin basis. The top two players advanced to the knockout semi-finals (group winner vs. the other group’s runner-up) with the subsequent winners meeting in the final. Concurrently, there were also placing matches between the corresponding eliminated group members to determine final standings (e.g. 3rd-placed players in each group would play each other and so on). Games were played over 20 minutes without a halftime break.

In addition, in line with the upcoming FIFA World Cup, each player also adopted a country to represent to give the tournament a nationalistic feel.

The national teams taking part

Group Stage

Group A consisted of Ouabi Rouis (France), Michael Choong (Italy), Muhd Fadhly Fahmi (Holland), Mohd Fauzi (Bosnia and Herzegovina), and Nic Tan (Russia), while Group B consisted of Rudy Hesty Roselan (Argentina), Bernard Lim (England), Muhammad Azhar Yusri (USA), Vikas K Chandiramani (India), and Anas Bin Rahamat (Germany).

Caption—Group games underway in the new Stadium De Imagio

Caption—Michael (Italy), Fauzi (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Rudy (Argentina)

As expected, Ouabi (France) breezed through his group games, winning all of his games convincingly without conceding a goal. Thus, the other members of Group A had to manage their games against one another carefully. By virtue of some drawn games between the other players, Nic Tan (Russia) managed to eke into the semi-finals as his two wins proved sufficient despite two defeats and an overall negative goal difference.

Fauzi (Bosnia and Herzegovina) vs. Fadhly (Holland) in the opening fixtures for Group A

Ouabi (France) vs. Michael (Italy) in the other opening fixture for Group A

Group B also started out cautiously but it was not long before it was clear the Rudy (Argentina) was the favourite to win the group. He ended with three victories and a draw, and similar to Group A’s winner, Ouabi (France), he did not concede a goal as well. The race for runner-up was a tight one as well, where Bernard (England), as a spectator, had to endure a nail-biting final group game between Vikas (India) and Azhar (USA) with his fate out of his hands. In the end, Vikas (India) could not get the required level of victory that he needed and Bernard (England) proceeded to the semi-finals on goal difference, continuing his fine form from his victory at the Leste Aquila SC Futures WASPA tournament earlier in the month.

Bernard (England) vs. Vikas (India) in a Group B encounter

Semi-finals

2 Ouabi (France) – Bernard (England) 0
1 Rudy (Argentina) – Nic (Russia) 1* (1-1 ft, 1-1 aet, 0-1 sudden death shots)

Bernard’s (England) performance was rewarded with a semi-final with Ouabi (France), but Ouabi (France) once again proved his mettle with a convincing 2-0 victory. The other semi-final proved to be a tighter affair. Rudy’s (Argentina) renowned attacking prowess was on full display and Nic (Russia) had to shore up his defence and rely on counter-attacks. Rudy (Argentina) took a 1-0 lead with superb chip shot into the corner, but Nic (France) managed to equalise off a shot from a rolling corner kick that barely crossed the line. Seven minutes of extra time could not separate the two of them so the game went to a sudden death shootout (the only shootout as it turned out in the competition). Both players had their first shots saved. After Nic (Russia) made his second shot count with a chip, he followed it up with a save and thus, a surprising place in the final.

Final

3 Ouabi (France) – Nic (Russia) 0

After his 2-0 defeat to Ouabi (France) in the earlier group game, could Nic (Russia) turn the tables on Ouabi (France) in when it mattered most? Unfortunately for him, Ouabi (France) turned up his form in a similar manner and took a quick lead within a minute with his trademark chip into the top corner. He resumed his domination for much of the game with Nic (Russia) reduced to trying to soak-and-strike. After enduring several close saves from Nic (Russia), Ouabi (France) got the critical second goal late in the game after dragging Nic’s (Russia) hounding defence one side and then slipping through the middle to place a shot home. There was even time for Ouabi (France) to score one more goal just before time ended after a wild foray by Nic’s (Russia) flicking goalkeeper resulted in lost possession and an open goal for Ouabi (France). 3-0 to Ouabi and 3-0 to France, reminiscent of their FIFA World Cup victory in 1998. Congratulations, Ouabi (France) for continuing his dominance on the local table football scene in Singapore!

The winners: Bernard (England) – 4th, Ouabi (France) – 1st, Nic (Russia) – 2nd, Michael (host of Stadium de Imagio), and Rudy (Argentina) – 4th 

(Report by Nic Tan)

Next tournament in Pretoria

Novak Djokovic plays subbuteo in Roma

First WASPA tournaments in Malaysia

It is a great honor to announce that the very first WASPA tournaments in Malaysia will take place this week-end in Putrajaya. The event will take place during the "Festival Belia Putrajaya" with thousands of spectators. The Hartamas Tigers, the most active club in the country, will be happy to welcome coach Mike Dent and one of the best subbuteo players in the world, Kaspar Bennett. The event will be played with the partnership of the Sports Ministry of Malaysia and in particular Mr Khairy Jamaluddin, Sports Minister who is a very big fan of the game. On saturday, there will be a U17 tournament counting as a WASPA "promotional tournament" while the Open tournament on sunday will count as a "regional tournament". Congratulations to Mr Jamie Kong and the Hartamas Tigers for a great achievement.

Facebook tournament page: https://www.facebook.com/events/738030472907548/

Five WASPA titles already for Alberto Gagliardi

There was a tournament played with the old rules last friday in Macerata (Italy). 9 players were taking part and there were many close games. In the semis, Andrea Giammusso beat Stefano Gambella (1-0) while Alberto Gagliardi defeated Marco Cesari (3-1). In the final, Gagliardi beat Giammusso to win his 5th WASPA title. Well done Alberto!

Standings of the evening
1) Alberto Gagliardi (United SC Macerata)
2) Andrea Giammusso (Dynamo Fermo)
3) Marco Cesari (United SC Macerata)
4) Stefano Gambella (United SC Macerata)
5) Moreno Casoni (United SC Macerata)
6) Pietro Mattioli (United SC Macerata)
7) Lorenzo Morresi (United SC Macerata)
8) Alessandro Mattioli (OSC Macerata)
9) Luca Valentini (Dynamo Fermo)