by John Pahl
It's a new era.
Charlotte table tennis hosted its first event in our own facility, (the 4th of the year)
at the Hawthorne racket club, which we share with the Charlotte badminton club.
Tables, floor, lighting and court size are all very good.
There is no better destination for you to consider regardless of your playing level than
Charlotte 1 and 2 star tournaments. Besides Mike Babuins Cary Cup Open in March,
we have the best players from Atlanta to the east coast checking in to compete for the
most prize money in the Carolinas. We don't have 30 tables and yes its hot in the
summer months; we will test you and you will work for what you take home be it cash,
trophies, rating points or aches aquired from hard fought wins and missed opportunities.
Remember the Southern Tour in Augusta, or the Teams before Baltimore?
Sometimes the grittiest venues produced the best classic matches.
If you can't take your table tennis without air conditioning,
I bet your drink has an umbrella in it as well.
We also took a moment to recognize the efforts of key individuals responsible in
helping us make the Hawthorne Racket Club a reality. Plaques bestowing honorary
club memberships were given to Wayne Weston, Lola Massad, CW McIver and Larry
Huelsman. We thank them as well as all involved in giving us the chance to let us
prove table tennis is a sport to be supported and promoted like all the other
mainstream sports, reaching and enriching the lives of those in our community and city.
Tournament Staff
Director and Referee: John Pahl
Umpires: Ray Filz, Tom Miller, Edem Komlanve
Sponsors: Stiga and Paddle Palace.
Scoremaster: Jesse Pahl
Under 1000 (3/5)
The Under 1000 started promptly at 10:00 with T.P. Lee keeping score for our up and
coming juniors. Moustapha Nasser continued his steak from last tournament running
through the crowd undefeated. Samir has definitely been practicing with his son & it
paid off as Moustapha even defeated the older & more experienced Elias Gomez Jr.
Elias has vowed revenge and the next meeting should be exciting. Christian Amidi
got by his nemesis Khoa Vu to claim 3rd, and Max Herfert rounded out the group at
5th place fighting all the way. Trophies for all. As these youngsters improve & catch
up to their coaches/dads, we may have to include father/son doubles as an event
next time.
Open
The Open preliminary rounds started @ 10:30 with the winner of each of the 6 groups
advancing to meet the top 6 seeded players in 2 groups of 6 round robin. Crossover
semifinals would determine the final 2 players. The players not advancing moved to a
single elimination consolation round to keep them active until the Under 2000 event.
Preliminary Group 1 (3/5)
1822 Edem Komlnve derailed 1979 Norbert Herfert's bid for a spot in main Open rr's.
Milind Phadke (1770) nearly did the same by winning the first 2 and losing the next 3.
Preliminary Group 2 (3/5)
NJ Ozumba advanced over Giancarlo Anselmo and Van Vu. Van improved his rating at
Giancarlo's expense in a tough 5 game set.
Preliminary Group 3 (3/5)
Om Kuppuraja began his journey to the semis by taking out Chris OBrian and Samir Nasser.
Preliminary Group 4 (3/5)
Uko Akpaknmbak (1852) beat DJ Settle (1918) and Elias Gomez Sr to advance.
Preliminary Group 5 (3/5)
Patrick Timoh had trouble but advanced over Craig Ward and Ira Goodman.
Preliminary Group 6 (3/5)
John Lee took the final spot over Bilal Soylu and Anthony Thompson.
Open RR Group 1 (3/5)
Didi DeSouza and Om Kupparaja cleared the field of Al Herr, NJ Ozumba and
John Lee.
Open RR Group 2 (3/5)
Nigel Christopher and Pablo Perez won over Michael Lalvani, Uko Akpaknmbak, Patrick
Timoh and Edem Komlanve. 1822 Edem got his second big win of the day over 1988
Michael Lalvani from Atlanta.
Crossover Semi Finals (4/7)
First up was Nigel Christopher against Om Kuppurajah. Both are Charlotte club members,
but have never played since Om recently moved here from Illinois. Nigel overpowered in
4 straight: 8, 9, 6, 6. Too much distance between 2000 & mid 23's.
Next was Didi DeSouza and Pablo Perez. Didi has made the trip here from Atlanta before
winning last years 2 star event, but Charlotte club member and former Nicaragua
national team member Pablo is determined to make it an all Charlotte final. Didi won at
7,14,8 and 9. Pablo also succumbed to power from both wings. He was in the match, his
strategy utilizing placement and blocks was on, but too often he was just overpowered.
Pablo and Om played their final match to determine 3rd and 4th places.
It took Pablo 5 games (8,11,-9,8,8) to take 3rd and $80, leaving Om with $50.
Om has a terrific forehand, but Pablo effectively kept the ball out of his sweet spot and
forced more service errors.
Patrick Timoh took 5th place and $40 without having to play awol Al Herr.
Finals (4/7)
A treat for all present.
Just having 2300+ players in your finals doesn't guarantee an exciting match.
Today we had all the elements to make it so. Didi, the more active tournament player
won our 2 star event last year. Nigel decided to step up his training since last
playing at the March 05 Cary Cup by practicing last tuesday with former Anderson
College team mate and Charlotte club coach Greg Riley. Even though there was an air
conditioned area to reglue, Nigel couldn't get his combination of Juic Kaiza &
Butterfly Sriver to stick. Didi was waiting, a warning was issued to make it work
or use an alternate racket. Luckily, the speed glue cooperated and both players
were ready. Ray Filz umpired and kept score for the match, without incident.
Nigel started off strong, winning the first 2 games at 8 and 9. Both have monster
forehands, but the difference was Nigel's backhand, as pretty and deadly as you will
see anywhere. Didi was able to counter more forehands, which usually started the
longer rallies. He managed to win the 3rd at 14 after Nigel had the advantage 4 times.
Forehand loops with a lot of side now spun away from Nigel, often without being
touched. Didi continued his forehand rampage taking the 4th at 7. The tide turned
again as both exchange winners in the 5th with Nigel winning the deuce game this
time at 10. By this time it was evident we were in for the long haul and all other
matches had stopped in favor of cheering the spectacular points. The 6th game had
Didi connecting at a better rate and winning at 8. These last 3 games were all very
even; they even made similar errors returning serve. Nigel's Primorac type backhand
serve is deceiving as Didi pushed a couple into the net per game. Nigel also caught
the net too often trying to return serve short to avoid attack. Even though Didi
managed to get 8 in the final game, it was all Nigel. He was ahead by a comfortable
margin the whole game & won before a frustrated Didi could complete a comeback.
Unforced errors throughout the match sent his racket flying onto the table a number
of times adding to his inability to convert the point as well as Nigels confidence.
$300 first place prize money to Nigel Christopher, and $150 to Didi DeSouza.
We thank Didi and the rest of the group from Atlanta for making the trip and
helping make our tournament exciting and successful.
Open Consolation Single Elimination (3/5)
4 rounds of play pared down the 12 to the eventual winner: Norbert Herfert.
Norbert took care of Elias Gomez SR, Chris OBrian, Van Vu and finally DJ Settle
to claim his $50. In other matches 1824 Giancarlo Anselmo won over 1899 Craig
Ward after losing the first 2, and Van Vu bested Samir Nasser in the first of their 2
meetings which they would split.
Under 2000
The top 8 were seeded out to allow as many to play as possible.
6 rr groups of 3 would have the winners join the top seeds in 2 groups of 7 round robin.
Finals determine winners for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prize money.
2nd place advanced to Class B, with 3rd place in Class C.
Preliminary Group 1 (3/5)
uko Akpaknmbak advanced over Bilal Soylu and Matt Schell in order.
Preliminary Group 2 (3/5)
Giancarlo Anselmo advanced over La Poungthana and Daniel Espejel in order.
Preliminary Group 3 (3/5)
Edem Komlanve advanced over Tom Miller and John Pahl in order.
Preliminary Group 4 (3/5)
Ira Goodman (1745) upset Ray Filz (1773) and Rick Thigpen to advance.
Preliminary Group 5 (3/5)
Godwin Smith advanced over Elias Gomez Sr and Bernie Collie in order.
Preliminary Group 6 (3/5)
Samir Nasser (1758) won over Van Vu (1773) and Anthony Thompson.
U2000 Class A RR Group 1 (3/5)
Godwin Smith advanced to the final and Patrick Timoh went on to fight for 3rd after
they disposed of Uko Akpanmbak, John Lee, Giancarlo Anselmo and Samir Nasser.
Notable hard earned match was 1824 Giancarlo over 1852 Uko in 5.
U2000 Class A RR Group 2 (3/5)
DJ Settle had the best record with Edem Komlanve coming in second. 1822 Edem
capped off his winning streak beating 1865 Chris OBrian, and the smell of adjustment
is in the air as bottom seed in this group 1745 Ira Goodman finished his day with wins
over 1899 Craig Ward and 1918 DJ Settle.
U2000 Class A Finals (4/7)
Unrated Charlotte member Godwin Smith estimated at 1900 faced off against 1918
DJ Settle. Godwin, originally from Nigeria lost the first at 7, squeaked out the 2nd at 11,
and then cruised to a win at 6, 6 and 6. Godwin collected $100 and an eventual rating of
2070. DJ took home $70. 3rd place prize money of $50 was decided by Atlanta's Patrick
Timoh and UNC student Edem Komlanve. Patrick profited by a score of 9,9,-9,-9,9,9.
U2000 Class B RR (3/5)
1st Ray Filz
2nd Van Vu
3rd Tom Miller
U2000 Class C RR (3/5)
1st John Pahl
2nd Rick Thigpen
3rd Matt Schell
