Sad news from Australia

It is with great sadness that we have to inform you that Australian player Harley Ullrich died this morning. The following is from his sister: "I'm so sad to tell you that Harley passed away peacefully at 2.32am this morning surrounded by love, with his family by his side. I don't have the words to express the hurt that we are feeling. The pain hasn't even begin to set it. Things just turned all of a sudden late last night. He was incredible to the end. Courageous and staunch and thoughtful. I know Harley would want to thank you for all the support, it meant so much to him and It also means so much to our family. I know you will be hurting as well. Lots of love. Zoe."

Harley Ullrich was ranked 634th in the latest WASPA and was a member of the Northern Falcons TFC. He appeared for the first time in a WASPA tournament on November 29, 2015 in Sydney for a total of 6 appearances in the circuit. He event reached the semi-finals in a tournament in Chastwood in May 2016. All his friends in the WASPA circuit send their sincere condolences to his family.

We kindly ask all organizers in the WASPA circuit to respect a minute of silence during events held in June 2017.

Rudy and Anas share honors in Kebun Baru

On 27th May, KB League completed the final game (Game 7) of season one.  Rudy was the overall league champion and second place went to Anas.
Game 7 was played on a Saturday afternoon unlike the usual games that were played on Wednesday night. Game 7 champion went to Anas and Rudy took the runners-up position.
The next KB competition (KB FA Cup) will be played on 23rd July 201.
Following were the results of game 7 and overall standing of season one.

WASPA monthly report of May 2017

Dear all, you will find in the attached file the monthly rankings of May 2017.

PDF file (golden book)
Excel file (world rankings)

It was another great month with a total of 34 regional events, 2 tournaments with the old rules, 1 promotional tournaments, 1 test match and some stages of the NETFA Brigantes league. It took time to compile all results but finally everything is now correctly compiled.

Continuous development in derry, Northern Ireland

Some nations give a very strong support to the circuit as we had 6 events in Australia and 7 in Belgium but we also had many events played in different countries. Argentina hosted a second tournament and we were glad to be back in Gibraltar and Japan.

We have now a total of 1631 players from 46 nations in the rankings!

Young and older players competing together in Singapore

Just as a reminder, we are always trying to improve the WASPA circuit. Your ideas are more than welcome to improve the circuit.

Don't miss the last chance to fill out our survey at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Oizoj5z2R64vZWCbxfGl0raY0DehDRMCXxSwUsT6tgg/edit

Great games in Sydney, Australia

There are 5 main rankings. We are trying to find ideas to boost the interest for the ranking of clubs. Any idea is welcome. Welcome to BRISBANE SUBBUTEO CLUB (Australia). They are now a WASPA top club!!!

The Golden Book file being now "too large", I will upload it on Google Drive and make it available ASAP. You can download it from the links section of the WASPA blog.

Argentina is now part of our family

Please remember you only need 3 players to register your tournament. Don't be scared to join. It's free and tournament requests can be sent by e-mail to vincent.cop@rsca.com

Keep an eye on the WASPA blog at http://waspa-circuit.blogspot.com as there are updates almost every day.
The FISTF website can be found here: http://www.fistf.com

Old rules tournaments become very popular in Greece

WASPA is also looking for partners. If you know any company ready to support us (we don’t ask for money but we want some win-win agreements so that we can promote each other), don't hesitate to contact me at vincent.cop@rsca.com

Ideas to develop the WASPA circuit or to make things more attractive are always welcome. We stay at your disposal for more info.

Yours sincerely,
Vincent Coppenolle (vincent.cop@rsca.com)

Mark Farrell wins in Yorkshire

20/5/2017 Heckmondwike Sports Club. 
Since the inception of the UK team event championship in 2015 at Heckmondwike, Yorkshire Phoenix have always held a strong tournament. The table tennis centre with its bright lights and intimate surroundings has always proved a popular venue and this was no exception.
Players travelled from Manchester (Blanchard) Liverpool (Daly, Matthews, Len) and Ireland (Farrell) to play on the pitches at Yorkshire.

Mark Farrell

In a well attended tournament, 14 player settled it out over 5 intense Swiss format sessions.
Ruby Matthews, one to watch in the future offered a strong challenge and was very unlucky not to take home more than the U9s trophy on the day,. In a well fought battle she was unlucky to concede four goals to her dad Cayne who played well in the early rounds.
Seasoned players like Mike Burns and Brian Daly, Mike Parnaby and Andy Boyer made it a tough competition throughout. Craig Hewards FISTF balsa army almost did enough to win but Mark Farrell the coolest head on the day flew back to Ireland the victor.

A genuinely enjoyable competition with everyone playing with a great spirit.
The team event in June is a great chance to get involved and continue a run of fantastic events. Please get in touch with Yorkshire Phoenix if you would like to be part of our next event.

Highlights of the games on the day
Boyer 4 t price 2
Farrell 2 0 blanchard
Martin b 3 parnaby 2
Cayne 4 1 ruby
Mark 2 1 mike burns
Brian Daly 2 1 Martin B

Winner – Mark Farrell
Runner Up – Craig Heward
Third – Brian Daley
Under 16s – Thomas Price
Under 9s Ruby Matthew

Final standings:
1. Mark Farrell (Ireland/Yourkshire)
2. Craig Heward (England/Yorkshire)
3. Brian Daley (England/Yorkshire)
4. Mike Burns (Scotland/Yorkshire)
5. Martin Blanchard (England/London & Essex)
6. Len Parsons (England/Merseyside)
7. Brian Kinrade (Isle of Man/Moralzarzal)
8. Thomas Price (England/Kent Invicta)
9. Andrew Garbutt (England/Lincoln)
10. Andy Boyer (England/Yorkshire)
11. Brett Price (England/Kent Invicta)
12. Cayne Matthews (Wales/Manchester)
13. Mike Parnaby (England/NETFA Brigantes)
14. Ruby Matthews (Wales/Manchester)

Dimitris Dimopoulos wins in Pireas

On May 28 the club of Pireas Lions was hosting another WASPA tournament with a good field of 11 players. Dimitris Dimopoulos (from the host club) defeated Manolis Papadakis (Athinaikos) in the final. Leonidas Koutromanos and Giorgos Karatarakis reached the semi-finals. Vasilis Tritsarolis won the U15 tournament after beating Kostas Pantelaras in the final.

Marcos Kalopsidiotis does it again

Seven players attended the 9th stage of the national circuit in Cyprus. The final was another "classico" and this time Marcos Kalopsidiotis (Salamis) defeated Georgios Zangylos (Famagusta) on shots in the final. Demetris Parperis (Nicosia Strikers) and Marios Nikolaou (Phoenix) reached the semis.

Rise of the next generation

Western Flickers 12th WASPA - May 20, 2017
With Melbourne Table Football Club cancelling its’ scheduled May WASPA, Western Flickers stepped in to quickly set up a WASPA tournament for the month.

Despite the late notice, there was a good turnout of 6 players – including sole MTFC representative Juan Menendez and U15 junior Joe Kee who was making his table football tournament debut after attending a couple of Friday Flicks. The tournament was held at our new western venue Barnestoneworth United Junior Football Club for the first time and the format was a simple round robin.

It turned out to be a day that signalled the rise of the next generation of Subbuteo table football players in the form of reigning Australian junior champion Benjamin Ng. He started the day with an upset victory over his dad and Victorian champion Benny and never looked back. Comfortably winning the rest of his matches, Benjamin romped home to victory with a 100% record, scoring 11 goals and conceding no goals!

Hence it was left to the rest of the players to fight for minor placings. In a sign of even competition, it was a close contest for the vast majority of games with 6 draws and another 6 games with a single goal on it. In the end, only a few points separated second to fifth placings!
Benny left his shooting boots at home but still managed to squeeze out enough points to finish runners up. The ever improving Juan played solidly to clinch third spot on the day from Kevin by a single point. Special credit to debutant Joe who’s defensive flicking was quite brilliant and demonstrated natural tactical acumen – scoring a deserved draw and losing his other games by only a single goal. Well done son!

Thanks to all who attended for helping to make it another enjoyable Western Flickers WASPA event. It was a fun day of skill, banter, jokes and all round relaxed enjoyable environment. Kudos to everyone for playing with the WTF spirit!
GO WEST !!

The final tournament standings are:

Open Category
1. Benjamin Ng
2. Benny Ng
3. Juan Menendez (MTFC)
4. Kevin Grant
5. Tim Kee
6. Joe Kee

P.S. If anyone is interested in taking part in future Western Flickers events or just popping by for chat and look-see, please visit the Western Flickers Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/WesternFlickers/) and send us a message.

Steve Bennett wins in Letham

Steve vs Andy in the final

Andy vs Gareth in the semi-final shots

This Sunday the Letham International Open took place with 12 players competing in the individual tournament. The event was also a WASPA torunament and attracted 5 visitors from Glasgow besides the 7 local players. Steve Bennette defeated Andy Beskaby in the final (4-2) while Gareth Christie and Rob Conway lost in the semis. David Baxter defeated Craig Thom in the Plate final. Congratulations to all.

Northern Phoenix WASPA No.1

Table Football finally arrived to Melbourne’s northern suburbs with the Northern Phoenix TFC hosting its inaugural WASPA on the evening of Friday, 02nd June. Six competitors took part in the event - a round robin competition – each player competing against one another in a five match league format. Ten minute halves were the order of the day as players representing four various TFC franchises jostled for the honour of taking home the inaugural Northern Phoenix title.
The first game of the evening had an extraordinary start as outsider Kevin Grant scored within the opening 60 seconds of the contest against Steve Dettre. A major upset was looming however it wasn’t long before Australia’s Subbuteo Godfather equalised, going on to win the contest 3-1 in a highly entertaining encounter. As the games unfolded, it became apparent that the race for the top prize would be a two horse contest between Steve Dettre and Benny Ng. Both competitors cancelled each other out in their Round Two head to head clash after battling out a 0-0 stalemate. It wasn’t until Round Four however that Ng took the outright lead in the competition after Dettre could only manage a draw against the competition’s host - Chris Garagounis. Ng kept his composure and went on to secure the inaugural Northern Phoenix Waspa after sealing a 2-0 victory against Kevin Grant in the final round of competition.

In other highlights, Simon Briffa continued his fine table football form by notching up a win and two admirable draws in a highly free flowing display on the evening. Paul Mercer also produced a similar output, showing why he remains one of Victoria’s top flickers with a very composed and calculated performance. It is an even more impressive achievement when one considers he hasn’t taken part in any competition for the past four months.
In summary, the 15 matches produced a total of 27 goals in what was a sure sign of how defences dominated proceedings during the course of the evening. More importantly, a fun night was had by all as the Northern Phoenix launched itself onto the Australian Table Football Scene.

(Report by Christos Garagounis)

Rémy Huynh wins in Bande

Rémy Huynh gets trophy from local authorities

The club of Wamme was holding a super day of Subbuteo with two events on Sunday. In the morning, the "Cup of Luxembourg" (Southern Province of the country) was open to the players living in the area and Rémy Huynh (Rochefort TS) defeated Jean Grosdent (Wamme SC) in the final. In the after, a WASPA tournament attracted 11 players. Rémy Huynh took the honors again, defeating Luc Grosdent (Wamme SC) in the final while Michaël Ponthieux and Jean Grosdent reached the semis. Congratulations to all! Huynh claims his second title in the week, just four days after another tournament win in Rochefort.