Poster of the Open of Eugies

The 5th victory in a Major for Wolfgang Leitner

Wolfgang Leitner wins his 5th Major. Gil Delogne, Bessim Golger and Sami Targui are also on the podium

The FISTF Major of Stembert took place this week-end with a good file of more than 150 players. The Open tournament had 69 entries and many interesting games with four players of the home nation against four top foreign players (Leitner, Rouis, Benita and Donval). Wolfgang Leitner (Austria/Mattersburg) took the honors after beating Gil Delogne in the final in sudden death (1-0) while Bessim Golger and Sami Targui lost in the semis. Alain Jadot was the surprising winner of the veterans after beating Karl-Heinz Haider on shots in the semi and Fabio Belloni in sudden death in the final. Lydie Pinchart had a great day in the ladies section as she defeated Emilie Despretz in the final. Margault Delval helped the ASH team to put three girls in the semis while Victoria Büsing from Germany was the other semi-finalist. In the U19 section, Marcel Kwiatkowski came on top of a group of 7 but he lost in the final against David Vantassel. Nicola Borgo frm italy beat Theo Modeste from France to win the U15 tournament. In the same time, it was the clash of the titans in the U12 category with Noé Scheen beating Marios Strommer during the sudden death of the final.

The team event of the saturday had a good strarting list of 28 teams but despite the good performances of the Belgian teams, only SC Stembert managed to reach the semis with thre italian clubs. In the final 4, the Bologna Tigers beat Stembert by a close 2-1 while Perugia beat Sanremo (1-0). the final was an italian affair but Perugia took the honors by beating Bologna (2-0) with individual wins of their foreign players Bessim Golger and Fayçal Rouis.

Congratulations to the club of Stembert for a fantastic show with a really fantastic venue and an amazing live coverage of the event.

Major of Verviers

Just 2 weeks to go before the Major of Verviers

Hat trick for Reggio Emilia players in Frameries

The Major of Frameries took place this week-end with more than 220 players from 17 nations taking part in a wonderful event. On saturday the team event had an amazing of more than 50 teams taking part but in the end, the reigning european champions of Reggio Emilia (Italy) took the honors after defeating Austria's TFC Mattersburg in the final. It was not enough for the club of captaim Marco lamberti as Carlos Flores also won the Open category after a close final against Belgium's Valéry Dejardin. It was another Reggio Emilia player, Malta's Massimo Crmeona, who made a sensational debut in the veterans section. The former world number one had to play the qualification round but was in a hot day to beat Nuno Noronha in the final. The other winners of the week-end were Antonio Jesus Casin (U19), Marco Di Vito (U15), Noé Scheen (U12) and the Swiss princess Trisha Baumeler in the ladies section.

Flores, Lamberti, Licheri, Crmeona and Monica, a team "on fire" in Frameries

Poster of the Major of Stembert

Valéry Dejardin wins the Open of Verviers

The Belgian national association organized an International Open for individuals only in the premises of SC Verviers-Herve on saturday with more than 65 players taking part. Valéry Dejardin (JSC Rochefort) beat French player Grégory Puissant in the Open final (1-0). The finals in the other categories were as follows:
Veterans: Alain Jadot - Benoit Massart 3-1
U19: Nathan Dizier - Romain Threis 1-1 (Dizier won on shots)
U15: Antoine Martin - Arnaud Threis 3-2 (sudden death)
U12: Noé Scheen - Kimberley Devreese 8-0
Ladies: Lydie Pinchart - Emilie Despretz 2-2 (Pinchart won on shots)

The final four of the Open category: David Fraikin, Valéri Dejardin, Justin Leroy, Grégory Puissant

FISTF World Championships 2014 in Rochefort (Belgium)

On December 10, the FISTF Board was happy to confirm the FISTF World Cup 2014 will be held in Rochefort (Belgium) on September 5, 6, 7. The following official statement was sent to all national associations:

Dear National Federations and Players,
It gives us great Pleasure to announce to you all the 16th edition of the FISTF World Championships. The event will take place in Belgium on the 5th and 6th and 7th September 2014 with the Belgium Federation and host club JSC Rochefort in their 40th Year. The event will be played on 56 professional astroturf Stadiums in the Venue, "sports hall of Jemelle" with Direct TV Screens on the top stadiums during the event.

Friday 5th September - Arrival of the teams and Draws Live and Practice Session
Saturday 6th September - Open World Championships All Classes
Sunday 7th September - Team Open World Championships all Ages

This is the 16th edition of our world championships and we at FISTF would like to wish the Belgium Federation and the Host club JSC Rochefort  the very best from all the Federations and we look forward to the 16th edition of our World Championships.

All the best in Sport
Alan Collins
FISTF President

Kaspar Bennett and Brussels SC dominate in Cardiff

Brussels SC, winner of the team event (Gil Delogne, Rudi Knuf, Laurent Coucke, Frédéric Vanton, Cédric Vanton, Philippe Hipfinger)

The Cardiff grand prix was played last week-end in a great spirit and a fantastic field of 93 players from 13 nations taking part. The Open tournament was full of surprises but at the end one of the big favorites managed to lift the trophy as Kaspar Bennett (England) beat the young Angelo Borg (Malta) in the final. Paulo Gouveia from Portugal and Romain Lafontaine from France were the semi-finalists. In the other categories, David Vantassel (Belgium) won the U19 event. Vantassel's teamate Emilie Despretz won both the U15 and the ladies sections while Kye Arnold beat Thomas Price in the U12 final. In the veterans, the event was very open. Despite the presence of four excellent Maltese players in the last 8, the inner was Laurent Coucke from Belgium. Coucke wins his first ever title in the veterans category.

On sunday, the team event was also very open with 16 teams taking part. Bristol SC (England) and Brussels SC (Belgium) were in the same group but met again in the final. After a very close game, Brussels won by one goal to win their first ever FISTF trophy. Well done to tall the inners and to the Cardiff organizers for a great tournament.

FULL RESULTS HERE

Cédric Garnier wins the Open of Yokohama

A good field of players took part to the International Open of Yokohama this week-end. Japanese players had the chance to meet some foreign players who dominated the tournament. Cédric Garnier, a french player who lives in Japan, beat Antonio Carabillo from Hong Kong in the final. John Ho from Singapore and Stephane Lambert from belgium were the losing semi-finalists. Mamiko Nakamura won the ladies tournament while Kosuke Watanabe was the winner of the U12 section.

Carabillo, Garnier and Lambert, the top 3 of the event

A nice group picture