Inaugaral IFC World Cup great success
The inaugural IFC World Cup was held at the Dynamo Palace of Sports on the 23rd November in Moscow, Russia and was notable for the participation of teams from Germany, United States of America, Japan and Russia along with officials from Singapore, Indonesia, Norway and Thailand and a judging panel consisting of members from locations as diverse as Chinese Taipei, Japan, Russia, Singapore and the USA. It should be mentioned that it was the first performance of the he United States of America at an IFC cheerleading competition.
Proceedings commenced with the opening ceremony featuring speeches from Mr. Setsuo Nakamura, President of the International Federation of Cheerleading and Mr. Victor Ivanov, President of the Russian Federation of Cheerleading. Mr. Ivanov spoke with admiration of the IFC Presidents tireless work in promoting and developing cheerleading worldwide and pledged to continue to support the vision of the International Federation of Cheerleading.
The opening ceremony was followed by exhibition performances from select Russian Cheer Dance teams and BEAUTY BEARS (Japan), a cheerleading team from Osaka with an average age of 65 years that proved to be a big hit with the audience as the team delivered a deft display of skills that defied their age and proved that cheerleading is a sport for all ages!
The competition proper commenced with the Senior Cheer All Female division and team RAIDERS (Japan) delivering an outstanding performance to secure 1st Place that sent a clear message that Japan will once again be a force to be reckoned with at the forthcoming 5th Cheerleading World Championships in Bremen, Germany during the tail end of November 2009.
RAIDERS, representing Baika Womens University located in Osaka are one of the preeminent All Female teams in Japan and feature members of the Japanese National Team, World Champions at the 4th Cheerleading World Championships 2007, in Helsinki, Finland.
DEVILS (Japan) followed in 2nd Place with ASSOL (Russia) in 3rd.
In the Senior Cheer Mixed division, FENOMEN A (Russia) edged past PCV POTSDAM PANTHERS (Germany) to record a memorable victory with JAM (Russia) following closely behind in 3rd Place.
JUNIOR BEARS (Japan) ran out comprehensive winners in the Junior Cheer All Female division with ICE (Russia) and YES (Russia) following in 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
One of the highlights of the days action came in the Senior Groups Stunts Mixed division where the USA TIGERS (USA), an All-Star team from the state of Louisiana, roared their way to a historic victory, outclassing PCV POTSDAM PANTHERS (Germany) into 2nd and JAM (Russia) to 3rd.
The USA TIGERS are no strangers to the pressures of competing at the highest level of international competition, having competed against world class opposition from Chinese Taipei, Thailand and Japan at The 2nd Cheerleading Asia International Open Championships hosted by the Foundation of Japan Cheerleading Association earlier this year in Tokyo, Japan.
Once again, the USA TIGERS held their nerve and delivered a world class performance; cue rapturous applause from the packed audience.
In the Junior Group Stunts division HAPPY ANGELS (Russia) scored a one/two with HAPPY ANGELS 1 in 1st Place and HAPPY ANGELS 2 in 2nd Place with only 1.5 points separating the two teams. ICE (Russia) finished 3rd.
Rounding out the days entertainment was a final performance from the BEAUTY BEARS, a fitting finale to an exciting days competition!
And now we may conclude that a new type of IFC competitions has appeared. The competitions that will develop the level of cheerleading clubs teams and will make the competitive activity of IFC immense and interesting.