INTERNATIONAL OPEN TO KICKSTART THE SEASON IN AUSTRALIA
Melbourne will host the first major F.I.S.T.F. event of the Subbuteo 2015/2016 season in Australia with a total of 20 people entering held in the suburb of Brighton this weekend.
The majority are Melburnians, while Subbuteo Parramatta will fly down with a strong team presence of four players. Two from Brisbane Subbuteo Club and one representative of the Northern Falcons TFC finalizes the Australia representatives. Two other participants will add value and intensity to the whole purpose of the International Open as Englishman, Chris Thomas and Vincent Coco of Italy will fly down under.
What to Expect?
Chris Thomas may be tipped as the favorite to win the tournament with a FISTF world ranking #28, and points accumulated from the professionalised tournaments in Europe shows of significant experience earned throughout his playing days. However, his brother Peter, now residing in Australia and member of the Melbourne Table Football Club, will prove to be the greatest hurdle to achieve glory in Brighton.
Peter Thomas is the current Asian Champion in which this was achieved in January 2015 in Melbourne and looks set to provide a thrilling sibling derby match if both players get out of the group stage and progress through the knockouts.
Raffaele Lombardi of Subbuteo Parramatta will return to the subbuteo scene after competing in the 2015 World Cup. Although he experienced losses from two great players in his group stage, Raffaele made Australia proud as he managed to earn a draw (2-2) against Swiss opposition John Imbrogiano. His exposure at the World Cup and observations of the play-styles from Spanish, Italian and Austrian players, who dominated the event, will surely influence on his game and prove to be quite a challenge against his opponents in Melbourne.
What Now?
Evidently, subbuteo is growing in Australia. Melbourne’s upcoming October International Open will hold more players than its previous last year, with new faces and return of players state-wide who are eager to improve their progress from their last flick-out. This will of course produce an appetite for those players to consider travelling to Sydney for the 2016 Grand Prix, held in January.
Player List
| 1 | Chris Thomas | ENG | The Glide, Slide, Dip & Chip Club | ENG0054 | 39 |
| 2 | Peter Thomas | AUS | mel | AUS0003 | 60 |
| 3 | Eliot Kennedy | AUS | fal | AUS0007 | 194 |
| 4 | Raffaele Lombardi | AUS | par | AUS0008 | 219 |
| 5 | David Simpson | AUS | mel | AUS0015 | 404 |
| 6 | Benji Batten | AUS | mel | AUS0004 | 449 |
| 7 | Benny Ng | SIN | mel | SIN0097 | 463 |
| 8 | Luke Radziminski | AUS | mel | AUS0011 | 536 |
| 9 | Alexandros Stefanos | AUS | mel | AUS0017 | 537 |
| 10 | Giuseppe Tardiota | AUS | bri | AUS0016 | 554 |
| 11 | Daniele Lombardi | AUS | par | AUS0018 | 555 |
| 12 | Dillon Izon | AUS | mel | AUS0012 | 601 |
| 13 | Beth Eveleigh | AUS | mel | ||
| 14 | Julian Duszniak | AUS | mel | ||
| 15 | Christos Garagounis | AUS | mel | ||
| 16 | Nigel Edwards | AUS | mel | AUS0029 | |
| 17 | Benjamin Ng | AUS | mel | AUS0014 | |
| 18 | Rik Bland | AUS | bri | ||
| 19 | Fabrizio Coco | AUS | par | ||
| 20 | Vincenzo Coco | ITA | par | ITA1007 |
