2005 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP REPORT

-FIRST TIME CHAMPIONS HIGHLIGHT OPEN EVENTS
-COLLIGNON DOMINATES CHAMPIONSHIP PLAY

Tremendous performances from the sport�s two biggest stars and several first time winners highlighted the 2005 USTSA World Championships, held this past Labor Day weekend at the DFW Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dallas, Texas. Players from across North America and around the world were on hand for this annual foosball spectacle which offered players a revised format that featured both "Open" and "Championship" events.

In the five Open events, four new names were added to the list of major world champions, while the two Championship events, which featured the game�s top competitors and qualifiers, were again dominated by the most famous names in the world of foosball. Here is a look at how the 2005 Dallas event unfolded...

FIRST TIME CHAMPIONS HIGHLIGHT OPEN EVENTS..

For the first time since 1998, the Open events at the World Championships saw trophies awarded to first-time winners in four of the five individual competitions. At that worlds event in Fort Worth seven years ago, Don Swan, Maggie Strong, Kathy Richey, and Frederic Collignon each won their first world title. At this year�s event, Billy Pappas, Tom Yore, Fernando Rosa and Stacey Fowler joined the exclusive list of world foosball champions with hard-earned victories in each of their respective events.

Pappas overcame the great Collignon to claim Open Singles, while Yore and partner Louis Cartwright outlasted Pappas and Trevor Park in one of the grittiest matches in World Championship history. Rosa and Moya Tielens won the Mixed Doubles title after a final match win that went right down to the last Ball, and Stayce Fowler avenged a 2004 worlds loss to Cindy Head to earn the Women's Singles final.

In Open Singles, fast-rising superstar Billy Pappas, who has electrified the pro tour with his play during the 2005 season, earned his world title with a thrilling final match performance against the great Frederic Collignon.

Coming off a brilliant National Championship appearance that saw him win all three of the major titles, Billy claimed the winner�s side of the bracket in an extremely well played two game win over Collignon, 5-4, and 5-4, to advance to his second career world final and seventh major open final overall.

Frederico, who has always been a remarkable comeback player, then moved to the loser�s side and defeated 2003 World Champion Tony Spredeman, 5-3, and 5-4, in the bracket final, to advance to the championship match and another highly-anticipated showdown with Pappas.

In a singles final that was played at a level seldom seen on the pro tour, both players were spectacular, with one great play by Billy being followed by another from Frederico. Pappas would unleash a powerful �walking-snake� to the goal�s far corner, and Collignon would respond with a dancing �euro-pin� down the middle after three or four fakes and some brilliant ballhandling.

Pappas took advantage of his potent snake series and lethal 2-rod to win a close first game, 5-4, and take the early lead. But Collignon answered back, using his unparalleled singles skills and remarkably consistent rod-to-rod, ball-control style to earn an impressive second game win, also by a score of 5-4.

In game three Pappas played perfect foosball, scoring on all four of his 3-row possesions while also launching a scorching pull shot from goal to win the game 5-1, in less than three minutes time. But Frederico, as he so often does, responded with a clutch performance in game four, coming back from a 4-3 deficit to send the singles final to a fifth game.

With the Open Singles title on the line Billy took his game to yet another level. He employed his new lane/wall pasing series and aggressive offensive style to jump ahead 3-0, in route to a 5-3 fifth game win and his first career open world title.

�That kid is really amazing�, said one spectator, who was still shaking his head after watching the talented twenty-year-old dismantle the fourteen time world champion.

In the Open Doubles event Tampa, Florida�s Tom Yore paired with five-time world finalist Louis Cartwright to come from the loser�s side and win the title in a grueling ten game battle that must go into the record books as one of the most hard-fought and entertaining final matches of recent pro tour seasons.

Yore and Cartwright had fought their way back to the final after a tough winner�s bracket final loss to 2005 national doubles champs Billy Pappas and Trevor Park. In that match Cartwright used his signature �Louis shuffle� pin-shot defense to effectively block the talented Pappas, but Trevor Park, a gifted forward in his own right, moved to the forward position and led his team to wins in games two and three to send his team to a second consecutive tour final.

Tom and Louis then defeated 2004 world finalists Tony Spredeman and Bob Diaz in the loser�s bracket final to advance to the championship match.

In the Open Doubles final, Tom Yore came out shooting the ball as well as he ever has. Tom took his time and hit the open hole with regularity, shooting better than 60% during the first set, while Louis, despite a sore right wrist, used his high-speed shuffle to hold Pappas to less than 30% shooting from his scoring rod.

Despite their impressive play, Yore and Cartwright barely held on to win the opening set, 5-4, 5-4, 2-5, 4-5, 5-4 with Tom Yore providing the deciding point on a booming long pull shot after legally taking more than twenty seconds (including a reset) on his 3-row.

In the second set Yore and Cartwright continued to hold on to the momentum, winning game one 5-3. But Pappas and Park completely reversed that momentum in the second game, winning 5-0, with Trevor Park scoring two times from his 2-rod, while pitching a shutout from the goalie position.

The next two games were each won on the final ball, with Yore hitting a split pull shot at 4-4 to win game three, and Pappas scoring the last two points of the fourth game from his amazing 2-rod, after switching to goal.

The two teams, who had already played a remarkable eighteen games in the past two days in Open and Championship Doubles, now began to grind it out towards the finish.

Leading 4-3 in the fifth and decidingl game of the doubles final, Tom Yore, who had played outstanding 5-row defense all match long, stole the ball from Pappas�s passing rod and scored the championship-winning point on a pull shot down the middle. Yore, who had played well on the big points all weekend long, scored on his last three possesions to secure the win and his first-ever world title. The hard-earned victory was the second career world title for Cartwright who earned Open Singles honors in Dallas back in 1996.

The Open Mixed Doubles event at the 2005 Worlds saw talented Californian Fernando Rosa and five-time world champ Moya Tielens team up to earn the title in a performance that saw them come back from the loser's bracket and earn the title. In one of the year's most closely-contested open finals, Fernando and Moya outlasted Dave Gummeson and Lotus Chesborough to win a thrilling two set championship match that wasn�t decided until the final ball of the final game.

Rosa and Tielens had earlier defeated defending champs Frederic Collignon and Cindy Head in a semifinal match, before succumbing to Gummeson and Chesborough in a tough winner�s bracket final. After being dispatched to the loser�s side, they worked their way back into the final match with a win over third place finishers Tracy McMillin and Gena Murray.

Fernando Rosa had always been considered one of the sport�s most talented forwards and his play down the stretch in the Mixed Doubles event showed everyone in attendance why he has earned such praise. Rosa played aggressively on the 5-row and shot his roll-over with great precision to lead his team to a three game, opening-set sweep over Gummeson and Chesborough, 5-3, 5-3, 5-3, to send the Mixed Doubles final into a deciding second set. Moya Tielens, who had never won a title playing the goalie position, was also a major factor in set one, scoring five times from her 2-row, including two of the last three in game three.

The second set was a much closer affair, with four of the five games being decided by 5-4 scores. Rosa and Tielens continued their hot play in the opening game, winning 5-4, with Moya again contributing offensively from goal. Dave and Lotus finally got untracked in game two as Gummeson�s offensive game started to heat up. Dave and Lotus claimed the second game 5-3, to finally put a win on the scoreboard and tie the second set up. With all four players now playing great foosball, the teams each pulled off 5-4 wins in the next two games to send the match down to one final game.

Using his explosive snake shot Rosa scored first in game five, but Gummeson answered with a stuff against Tielens and a split pull shot to give his team the lead in the match for the first time. Rosa tied it up from his 3-rod and then stole the ball from Gummeson and converted again, to regain the lead. The always-consistent Gummeson then responded with a shot to tie it at four, as the final headed towards a conclusion.

The two forwards exchanged goals, Gummeson�s pull shot following another deep roll-over from Fernando, and the 2005 World Mixed Doubles event had gone all the way down to one final ball. Looking for his first career world title, Rosa then passed it through to his 3-rod and converted a snake shot that rattled off the near corner and into the goal to win the match and claim the title. The victory represented the first world championship and third career major title for Rosa, while Tielens earned her fifth world title in the past four years, and sixth overall. Moya would later add another in the Women's Doubles event.

A FIRST FOR FOWLER, THREE IN A ROW FOR TIELENS AND STEWARD

In the competitive Open Women�s events at this year�s World Championships, Moya Tielens and Joy Steward became the first ladies team to ever win three straight World Women's Doubles titles on the Tornado pro tour. For Moya the victory at this year�s event actually made it four years in a row that she had earned the world doubles title. Tielens had combined with former partner Laurette Barton to earn the title back in 2002.

In the final Moya and Joy faced thirty-six time world champion Cindy Head and her 2005 International Championship-winning partner Dawn Duquette, who was competitng in her first world final.

With Tielens again displaying her remarkable forward skills Tielens and Steward won game one, 5-4. Moya, whose combination of smooth 5-row and intelligent shooting rod have propelled her towards the top of the list among all-time great lady forwards, again dominated the center of the table and shot with exquisite precision, to lead her team to a second game win, also by a score of 5-4, and the 2005 world title in Women�s Doubles.

At last year�s worlds event, Cedar Rapids, Iowa�s Stayce Fowler had battled her way to the Women�s Singles final only to fall one step short, losing the championship match in two games to Cindy Head in her pursuit of a first world title. Stayce had earned two previous major titles on the pro tour, winning the singles title at the 1998 U.S. Open and doubles at the 2003 Nationals with Becky Cherry, and she badly wanted to add a world title to her growing list of achievements.

At this year�s Dallas event, Stayce used her solid 5-row and consistent snake shot to avenge that 2004 loss and defeat Cindy in a remarkable singles final performance, that saw her fall behind early and then hold on for dear life as the match nearly slipped away.

Fowler lost the first game of the final to Head, who had entered the 2005 event with a record sixteen world singles titles (including five of the last six) by a score of 5-3 and it looked as though Cindy might be on the way to yet another world title.

But Fowler responded with a tremendous effort in game two, holding-off a hard-charging Head to win 5-4 and even the match at one game each. In that second game, Fowler controlled the tempo and blocked all of Head�s scoring attempts to surge ahead 4-0. But Cindy, as she often does, fought her way back with four straight points to tie it at 4-4. While most players would have withered under the pressure of a Cindy Head comeback flurry, Stayce maintained her focus and then caught a break as her pass-attempt angled into the goal, giving her a badly-needed second game win.

Fowler continued to keep her composure and play smart and aggressive foosball in game three, as she scored twice from goal and shot 3 for 4 from her 3-row, on the way to handing the seemingly-invincible Ms. Head only her second loss ever in a World Women�s Singles final by a score of 5-3.

After the match an emotional Fowler graciously accepted congratulations from many in the large finals crowd and happily joined Billy Pappas, Fernando Rosa, and Tom Yore as first-time World Champions, a title they will all carry with pride for the rest of their careers.

COLLIGNON DOMINATES CHAMPIONSHIP EVENTS...

Belgian foosball icon Frederic Collignon again asserted himself as perhaps the greatest foosball player ever with yet another in a long series of great World Championship performances. Collignon, who has �tripled� three different times at the Dallas event, won both of the exclusive Championship titles in Dallas, as he continued his move toward the top of the all time world championship list.

In yet another brilliant performance, Frederico won his fifth career World Singles championship and earned a remarkable seventh world doubles title in the past eight years with partner Todd Loffredo, who increased his all time worlds win total to 20, now just four ahead of Collignon�s career total of 16.

Collignon and Loffredo stormed through the winner�s bracket, defeating Semi Pro qualifiers Wafir Hilawi and Chris Hesano in the opening round before reeling-off consecutive wins over Tommy Adkisson & Daniel Quick, 2004 finalists Spredeman & Diaz, and eventual fourth place finishers Fernando Rosa & Dana Marr. They decisively defeated their long time nemeses Dave Gummeson and Tracy McMillin for the winner�s bracket, and then faced Tom Yore and Louis Cartwright in the final, as �The Greatest Team Ever� looked to continue their amazing world championship run.

After defeating third place finishers Gummeson and McMillin in the loser�s side final, Yore and Cartwright, who had played an incredible amount of foosball over the previous two days, ran head-on into an overpowering Collignon and Loffredo in the final. Continuing their Dallas dominance, �Rico� and Todd defeated the open champs in three straight games, 5-1, 5-2, and 5-2, to win another world doubles championship and add yet another fascinating chapter to this continuing table-soccer success story.

In the Championship Singles final, Collignon faced-off against Tommy Adkisson, who had earlier defeated third place finisher Bob Diaz to reach his first world final in six years.

Frederico had beaten Adkisson in that 1999 world final to win his first singles title, and had gone on to earn thirteen more individual world titles since these two contrasting superstars had last met in a final. Meanwhile, Adkisson was still in the process of steadily working his way back into the sport�s upper level after a nearly four year absence from the pro tour in the early part of the decade.

In the final, the talkative Adkisson sprinted from the gate, using his quick-read 5-row and aggressive, in-your-face offensive style to surge ahead 3-1 in the first game. However, Collignon stayed composed and methodically worked the ball rod-to-rod up the table and into the goal as only he can. Frederico won game one 5-3, and then held off Adkisson, who again raced ahead 3-1, by a score of 5-4 to win game two and secure control of the match.

Collignon then wrapped-up his second straight world singles championship with a 5-3 win over Adkisson as Tommy was simply overwhelmed by the amazing skill of the already legendary Belgian.

Remarkably Collignon�s two wins represented the fifth time in the past seven years that he had at least doubled at the Dallas worlds event, a record that may never be broken...at least not until next year.

THE REST OF THE STORY...

There were other memorable title-winning stories that eventually emerged from this year�s World Championships.

In the Pro Events, young British foos star Rob Atha won both Singles and Doubles to secure his position as the best non-Pro Master player in the world. Rob defeated North Carolina�s Bryan Jones to win singles and then came form the loser�s side to beat Canadian Eric Dunn and goalie Mark Torres and earn the doubles title.

Ron Olson and Jeff Kimmerling, who had earlier defeated Pro master teams Rosa/Marr, Gummeson/McMillin and Steward/Gartman on their way to a remarkable fifth place finish in Open Doubles, also came out on top of the Semi Pro Doubles field.

Coloradoan Steven Steighner defeated Costa Rican Carlos Cespedes Martinez to claim the Semi Pro Singles title, while rising Montana star Jeffrey Pipkin Jr. and partner Keisha Rue took home the trophies in Semi Pro Mixed Doubles.

William Haberman of California won two Amateur world titles in Dallas. Haberman teamed with Chris McSweyn to win doubles and combined with Nancy Hiromoto to earn Mixed Doubles honors.

Kentucky�s Ryan Moore, who, looks like he�s on his way to being one of the sport�s future stars, defeated tough Canadian Kane Gabriel to secure the win in Amateur Singles and also teamed up with Todd Loffredo to win the 35 & 17 Doubles title.

Washington state�s Rochelle Mandin also won twice in the Amateur events at the 2005 Worlds. She claimed the Women�s Doubles title with partner Michelle Atkins and came out on top in a tough singles final over 15-year-old Jenna Schillage.

Terry Moore and Scott Liley won the 35 and Over title, and Canada�s talented Olavo Tavares brought the Forward Shoot-Out trophy back to Toronto. Justin Shaw of Iowa won Goalie War honors, Brandon Moreland and Billy Pappas were crowned 2-Ball Rollerball champs, and Ryan Moore won his third title of the weekend in the 17 and Under event with 9-year-old wonderkid Alex Pipkin.

2005 National Champions Billy Pappas and Trevor Park, representing the U.S.A., defeated the Belgian duo of Frederic Collignon and Ingrid Hauben to win the always-tough International Cup.

And finally, as the tournament wound down to a conclusion Monday evening, Dave Gummeson and partner John Winter held off Rob Mares and Chris Lancaster to earn the Pro/Am Doubles title.