by John Pahl
12/11/05
Hawthorne Racket Center
Charlotte NC

The 5th tournament of 2005 was sold out well in advance as usual.
There were 28 in the main draw and 7 in the under 1000.
Our big guns were not here this time, making the event more competetive
with the championship realistically available to any one of the 10 in Class A.
Tournament sponsors: Paddle Palace, Stiga, cttc & Charlotte park & rec.

Tournament Staff
Referee and TD: John Pahl
Umpires: Tom Miller, Simon Brain
U1000 scorekeeper: T P Lee
Scoremaster: Jesse Pahl

Under 1000 RR
All our juniors are showing improvement but Moustapha Nasser seems to keep
one step ahead of the pack. He again had a perfect record earning 1st place
honors. His toughest match was his last against Elias Gomez jr, 11-9 in the 5th
to secure the championship. This win also avenged his fathers loss to Elias sr
the same day. Elias came in second followed by Makinde Ogundipe, Max Herfert,
Tyler riekenberg, Christian Amidi and Khoa Vu.  Christian and Khoa continued
their rivalry with Christian coming out on top this time: -12,-2,9,9,15! Max herfert
showed improvement as well with first time wins over Christian, Khoa and Tyler.
The U1000 doubles was won by the David and Goliath team of Khoa Vu and unrated
Makinde Ogundipe.

The Open
Format: The top 4 players were seeded out of the preliminary rounds to Class A.
Everyone else fought their way to their final Class A, B, C & D round robins.
If you won your first 2 preliminary matches, you earned Class A. If you lost your
first 2 matches, you ended up in D. A third round determined your fate between
Class B and C.

Preliminary Stage of 24
The only upset of this round was 1691 Elias Gomez sr over 1724 Samir Nasser.
Winners advance to Second Stage A/B, losers to Second Stage C/D.

Second Stage A/B
The first upset here was 1764 Milind Phadke over 1866 Corey McElveen. Milind's
left hand power loops were accented by his recent training with Charlotte club
coach and national collegiate champion Greg Riley. This second win sends Milind
to Class A and Corey to B. Ironman Chris OBrian (1892) was the first to fall to
giant killer Van Vu (1798). Ira Goodman had a slight rating edge on Roddy Lee,
but Roddy ended up with the win. Ashwin Peres-De-Silva, Amir Amidi and Sam
Shamseldin rounded out the group of winners to advance to Class A.

Second Stage C/D
Only one upset here: 1448 Rick Thigpen over 1626 Richard Ilson. Rick has been
working with club coach Riley and mentor Larry Yen. The other winners from this
stage would meet the losers from Second Stage A/B to advance to Class B & C.
The 6 losers here do not pass go, do not collect 200, to compete in Class D.

Third Stage B/C
No surprises here other than 1712 Tom Miller over 1724 Samir Nasser.
The round robin groups are all set now.

Class A: Group 1 RR
Tounament top seed Godwin Smith went 4-0, and group bottom seed Van Vu went 3-1
to both advance to the Class A finals. 1798 Van won over 1957 Ashwin Peres-De-Silva,
1885 Simon Brain, and 1867 Sam Shamseldin. Van's training with 2100+ Guillermo
Rosales paid off big time. Last minute fill in Simon Brain was able to recoup some
points with wins over Ashwin and Sam.

Class A: Group 2 RR
2nd seed in this group 1974 Norbert Herfert went 4-0 over 2049 Jim McQueen, 1893
Amir Amidi, 1807 Roddy Lee and 1764 Milind Phadke. Amir was able to take out the
other 3 as well to advance with Norbert.  Jim won over Roddy and Milind with Roddy
getting a win over Milind as well.

Class A: Semi-Finals
Crossover semi finals put Godwin Smith against Amir Amidi, and Norbert Herfert
against Van Vu. Godwin and Amir decided to get their moneys worth and play all
seven games. Godwin, from Nigeria has a great forehand loop but his bread and
butter is his punch block. Good serves round out a solid 2000 game. Amir has been
threatening the 2000 crowd for some time, today he played to his potential.  A lefty
Seemiller style player flipping inverted and pips/no sponge, he often forces errors
to capitalize with a smash.  An improved forehand loop keeps his opponents honest
while superior blocking frustrates the attacking player.  Patience and tempers wore
thin here. Neither scored on the first attacking ball.  Roles switched as attacker
became defender and back again. All games were close but eventually Amir was
able to gain and keep the lead in the game that mattered most.
Norbert Herfert and Van Vu plyed the other semi final to 5 games, unaware of the
correct format; the outcome was accepted per usatt regulations. Norbert at  1974
has enjoyed success with his inverted forehand and long pips backhand game.
Patience and frustration are his main weapons. Spectators fail to understand the
degree of difficulty breaking through his pushes, blocks and counters until they
are standing across the table from him. Van Vu has been waiting for this day for
a long time. Style wise he is the most straightforward of the lot, attacking from
both wings with consistent strokes. Flipping serves back to start a topspin rally
gained him an advantage over Norbert who prefers forcing errors by pushing.
Consistency was the name of the game for Van to advance after 4 close games.

Class A: Championship Match
The 5th and the 13th seed were now ready to square off. The mood was less intense
as both players had overcome great odds to get here. It felt like getting to this point
was more important than actually winning the last match. Both would be re-rated  and
neither would be hurt much by a loss. Both still wanted to win, but a sense of  relief
already showed in their faces. They were friends, knew each others games,  and were
ready to finish what was to be their best showings of their tournament  lives.
Game 1 to Van at 9, relooping every Amidi block. Relying on the blocking game and
Van's errors wasn't going to be enough, so game 2 saw Amir attack  the 3rd ball as
well as Van's counters to win at 4. The next 2 close games were split  again.
The 5th game was a turning point as Amir's left hand loop still had zip and  Van's
loops hung a little high getting countered now instead of blocked. Game for Amir at 8.
Down 5-7 in the 6th, Van took a time out to  regroup and stage a comeback but
could only muster 1 more point. Championship and  $100 to Amir Amidi, the prize
money a distant motivator behind competition, ratings points and bragging rights.

Class A: 3rd Place
Godwin Smith won over Norbert Herfert in 4 straight to decide 3rd and 4th places.
No prize money this time at this level, so hats off to these 2 for finishing the day.

Class A: 5-10
Simon Brain upset Jim McQueen in straight games. Good showing for a last minute fill
in due to a cancellation. Ashwin Peres-De-silva took out Roddy Lee in 4 games.
Sam Shamseldin took 9th over an awol Milind Phadke.

Class A: Doubles
Jim McQueen and Sam Shamseldin won over Simon Brain and Chris OBrian in 7.
The winners split $40.

Class B
Corey McElveen (1866) won 1st place and $80 with a 5-0 record over 1892 Chris OBrian,
1823 Ira Goodman, 1804 Ha Trihn, 1712 Tom Miller and 1691 Elias Gomez sr. A 3 way
tie for 2nd resulted with Chris OBrian edging out Ira Goodman and Ha Trihn in order.
Tom Miller had a win over Elias Gomez to claim 5th. Doubles was won by Chris OBrian
and Tom Miller.

Class C
1649 David Pannell and 1617 Michael Yip each had 4-1 records over 1724 Samir Nasser,
1633 La Poungthana, 1527 Gerard schreuders and 1448 Rick Thigpen. Davids win over
Michael eared him 1st place and $60. Samir came in 3rd, La 4th, Rick 5th leaving
Gerard with 6th. David Pannell and Michael Yip won their doubles RR.

Class D
Unrated Phil Dulin earned $40 and 1st place for his 5-0 record over 1626 Richard Ilson,
1515 John Pahl, 1347 John Griffing, 1270 Daniel Espejel and 1189 Bill Engelbreth.
Richard came in 2nd followed by John P, Daniel, John G and Bill. Doubles was won by
Phil Dulin and John Pahl.