by John Pahl 2/11/06
Tournament sponsors: Planet Suzuki, Paddle Palace, & Stiga.
Our 2 star February tournament sold out well in advance as usual, with over
$600 in prize money sponsored by Planet Suzuki. Events included the Open RR,
U2000 single elimination and U1750 single elimination. Players from Georgia
and South Carolina as well as all over North Carolina helped make this event
a success supplying competition for our home club members. The tournament
started at 10:00 am, Official play was over @ 7:00 pm, but there were some
"never say die" players insisting on more competition even after 9 hours of
table tennis. Congradulations to all our event winners, but recognition should
go to these iron men as well: Chris OBrian, Bryan Horton, Femi Ogundipe, Tom
Miller, Amir Amidi and the man they call Usher.
If we want to help expand table tennis out of the rec rooms and into the pro
sports spotlight, we need to show what sets table tennis apart from ping pong:
It is a physical, often exhausting competition based on techniques and strategies
learned to control and counter speed and spin, with varying individual styles
and equipment playing a larger role than in most other sports. Polite pity pat
exchanges won't cut it here. Our future tournaments will feature more events
for the hardcore and young at heart. Everyone knows you don't go to the NA Teams
competition unless you're prepared to go the distance; Charlotte intends on
promoting the same battle royale attitude. Lets not lose the spirit of competition
confusing nationally sanctioned tournament play with an afternoon of ping pong.
Many upsets highlighted each division. If you are not improving, you are falling
behind, and most of our club is working hard at reaching that next level of
expertise with the added incentive of the 2006 US Open being hosted here in
Charlotte NC. Look for our next tournament in April & a US Open warm up in June.
The Staff:
Tornament Director & Certified Referee: John Pahl
Umpires: Tom Miller, Ray Filz, Edem Komlanve, Simon Brain
Scoremaster: Jesse Pahl
The Open
Format: 28 players. The top 4 were seeded out to Class A. The next 24 formed 6
groups of 4 RR with all players advancing to Class A, B, C & D based on the RR
outcome. Class A had 2 groups of 5 RR followed by crossover semi & finals for
the top 2 finishers, & crossover finals for 3rd, 4th & 5th.
Seeded out: Pablo Perez (2108) DJ Settle (2041) Amir Amidi (2000) NJ Ozumba (1993)
Preliminary Rounds: (3/5)
Group 1
The man they call Usher (Huang) won in straight games over Tim Hoagland, Femi
Ogundipe & Bill Engelbreth. Hoagland (1663) claimed the first mild upset of the
day over Ogundipe (1712) to advance to Class B, leaving Engelbreth in D.
Group 2
Edem Komlanve (1913) dropped one game on his way to Class A to Bilal Soylu (1660)
who mildly upset Bryan Horton (1724) to claim B. Unrated Hugh Bridgers ended up
in Class D.
Group3
John Lee (1911) advanced to Class A but not without a struggle. He went
-9,10,12,-9,6 against Elias Gomez (1723). Gomez then fell back another Class
losing to Yuri Godin (1654) 9,7,7. Daniel Espejel rounded out the group settling
for Class D.
Group 4
Giancarlo Anselmo (1898) dropped only 1 game to make it to Class A. Tom Miller
(1724) struggled to advance to Class B against John Nagel (1574) 6,-9,-7,10,1.
Nagel took Class C with John Griffing ending up in D.
Group 5
Chris OBrian (1867) gave up 1 game on the way to Class A. Richard Ilson (1545)
upset Ray Filz (1790) 4,8,-8,9, to claim Class B leaving Filz with C & Richard
Unanue with D.
Group 6
Sebastian Unanue (1762) won -9,5,9,-9,11 over Ira Goodman (1822), less a ratings
upset than the chance for bigger glory in Class A. Rick Thigpen (1494) won
5,-9,6,-10,7 over Dave England (1371) coming in at a low point of his usually
consistent 1500+ career. Unanue to A, Goodman to B, Thigpen to C & England to D.
Class A RR/ Group 1 (3/5)
Pablo Perez (4-0) earned 1st place to advance to the quarters without too much
trouble. His play is deliberate & methodical, taking advantage of opportunity
while allowing opponents to beat themselves. NJ Ozumba (3-1) also advanced losing
only to Perez, but having a tougher time 3-1 over (1913) Usher Huang, 3-2 over
(1898) Giancarlo Anselmo and 3-2 over (1867) Chris OBrian. Usher claimed third
with straight game wins over Anselmo & OBrian with Anselmo winning over OBrian.
Class A RR / Group 2 (3/5)
DJ Settle (2041) and John Lee (1911) both ended up with 3-1 records. Settle won
over Lee to settle 1st and 2nd places. Low seed here Sebastian Unanue (1762)
seemed to lack confidence going into Class A. He ended up playing well going 5
games with all his opponents including a win over 2005 Amir Amidi 13-11 in the 5th.
Amidi (2-2) still came in 3rd, followed by Edem Komlanve (1-3) and Unanue (1-3).
Class A / Semi Final Crossovers (4/7)
The 1st semi final saw Pablo Perez win over John Lee 4-1: 4,-9,7,9,7. Lee's
scrambling and big swings contrasted Perez's compact and calm style, which paid
off as the day wore on & players efficiency succumbed to fatigue. NJ Ozumba had
a harder time with DJ Settle 4-2: -10,10,-8,8,9,6. Both players are tall (6'2+)
and prefer forehand loop. Ozumba from Nigeria hits as well with a consistent
awkward backhand flip of the wrist while the younger Settle uses the orthodox
backhand loop. No one overpowered, it was just Ozumba's day.
Class A / Final (4/7)
1st seed Pablo Perez & 4th seed NJ Ozumba settled in for their final match.
Perez had played 19 games compared to Ozumbas 23. Perez had 2 games that went
past 9 compared to Ozumbas count of 10. Both played the same game that got them
there, Perez using placement & consistency to wear down an already tired player.
Ozumbas loops were still on the money but kept coming back. Game 1 & 2 to Perez
11-5, 13-11. Ozumba is towelling off often, & tries to be more agressive in the
3rd. No desperation, but a sense of urgency. Game 3 to Perez 11-6. Game 4 is a
foregone conclusion, NJ is just plain tired and might have enough in him to stage
a 4th game comeback, but probably not 5, 6 & 7. Game 4 to Pablo Perez 11-8 as
well as the $200 prize money sponsored by Planet Suzuki. NJ Ozumba earned his $100.
John Lee & DJ Settle played for 3rd place & $70. Settle was seeded out of the
preliminary round & had played 3 less matches than Lee. Yet it was Settle who
seemed to run out of gas. Settle won over Lee 3-1 in their earlier meeting, this
time Lee won 4-1 by scores of 9,-9,7,5,5.
Amir Amidi & Usher Huang played for 5th & 6th place. Amidi came in at his highest
rating of 2005 against Ushers 1931 (formerly 1988). Not much difference in ratings
but certainly in style. Huang is a penhold player originally from Taiwan, Amidi is
a Seemiller style player flipping inverted & short pips. Huang was not fooled by
Amidi's flipping & was able to keep looping through his blocks. Huang wins at
7,-6,5,5,6.
Class B RR (3/5)
Top seed here Ira Goodman (1822) went 5-0 dropping only 3 games to win the $80
prize money. Bilal Soylu (1660) had a 3-2 record to come in 3rd. Bilal has probably
the best forehand counter in our club, hitting winners off assumed winners.
Tom Miller (1724), Tim hoagland (1663) and Yuri Godin (1654) all had 2-3 records
and falling in order. Richard Ilson (1545) came in 6th with a win over Miller.
Class C RR (3/5)
Ray Filz (1790) won his group & $60 4-1 losing to Bryan Horton (1724). Elias
Gomez (1723) came in 2nd with a 4-1 record losing to Filz. Bryan Horton took 3rd
place with Rick Thigpen (1494) coming in 4th with 2 good wins over Femi Ogundipe
(1712) & John Nagel (1574). Ogundipe salvaged 5th place with a win over John Nagel.
Class D RR (3/5)
Dave England (1371) came out on top with a 4-1 record to earn $40. Richard Unanue
(1373) and Daniel Espejel (1290) each had a 3-2 record with Unanue taking 2nd place
with his win over Espejel. John Griffing (1330) & Bill Engelbreth (1182) each had a
2-3 record with Griffing taking 4th with an Engelbreth win. Unrated Hugh Bridgers
came in 6th at 1-4.
Under 2000 Single Elimination (3/5)
5 more players were added to the roster to participate in the SE events.
Rick Thigpen (1494) won over Tom Miller (1724) and Bryan Horton (1724) before being
derailed by Chris OBrian (1867). Simon Brain (1958) won over Usher Huang (1931)
before losing to Chris OBrian in the final. Chris lost the first 2 and decided to throw
caution to the wind attacking & looping every ball for the next 3 games. $60 to the 90
point underdog & wildman Chris OBrian.
Other matches of note: unrated Dennis Lee over Dave England; unrated Heiko
Plankenhorn over Yuri Godin (1654) & Daniel Espejel (1290).
Under 1750 Single Elimination (3/5)
Tom Miller (1724) won $50 over Bryan Horton (1724) 6,-8,8,-5,11 in the final.
The ambidexterous Miller keeps improving from either side.
Other matches of note: Unrated Heiko Plankenhorn over Rick Thigpen & Femi Ogundipe
as well as unrated Dennis Lee over Yuri Godin.
