John Pahl

The 1st tournament of 2007 sold out 5 weeks before the event.
Regardless of the size of the tournament, this is every tournament directors ideal
situation. We know exactly who will be there, the preliminary draws can be set ahead
of time, even advertised. Set up some alternates in case of last minute cancellations
or no shows & everything is set. Our 1 big massive fly in the ointment was using a
new format. As most of the day was planned around three 2 man teams per table, I
knew there would always be 1 team waiting to play. Problem was the wait was too
long, by anyones standards. I hoped for hour to hour & a half waits, reality was over
2 hours. For this I apologize & hope you will return in February for our 2 star
tournament & back to our tried & true more conventional format.
That's not to say the competition or matches played were not of the highest quality.
This format of 18 teams with players ranging from 1416 to 1990 gave us very
competetive matches representing the majority of our clubs populations.
Eligibility was simple: teams consisted of 1 player over 1750 & one player under 1750
or 2 players under 1750. Of the 18 teams we only had 3 with both players under 1750.
That meant the top seed wasn't necessarily much or any stronger than the 10th seed.
$480 prize money was spread out over Class A, B & C giving players incentive at every
level.
Tournament staff: John Pahl, Tom Miller & Jesse Pahl.
Thanks to umpire Eden Komlanvi for helping settle disputes as well.

Format:
1st round was 6 groups of 3 teams. Each team played the other 2, best 3/5.
Doubles would decide their fate if the score was 2 & 2. Winners moved to Class A,
2nd place went to Class B & 3rd place went to Class c.
This sent 6 teams to each Class.
The next Semi Final stage divided each Class into 2 groups of 3. Each team played the
other 2 & all advanced to the Final round.
Finals were 1 team match: the winners of each Class Semi Final group played 1 team
match for 1st & 2nd place in that Class; 2nd place finshers of each Class Semi Final
played 1 team match for 3rd & 4th place in that Class; 3rd place finishers of each
Class Semi final played 1 team match for 5th & 6th place in that Class.
All individual matches were 3/5.


Preliminary Round

Group 1:
These teams fell in order sending top seed (Ebony & Ivory) DJ Settle/Ray Filz to
Class A, (Russians) Yuri Boyko & Yuri Godin to Class B, & (Greenville Warriors)
Stephen Dreyfus & Tim Hoagland to C. The only upset here was 1712 Filz over 1837
Dreyfus, showing the importance of the B rated player on the team. A Doubles match
deicided the win in Boyko/Godin over Dreyfus/Hoagland.
Group 2:
Again they fell in order with (Team Crazy) Chris OBrian/Jun Ye winning over
(The Wankers) Craig Ward/John Pahl & (Deutschland Uber alles) Heiko Plankenhorn/
Bilal Soylu. Upsets here included 1589 Pahl over 1707 Soylu as well as 1707 Soylu
over 1904 OBrian.
Group 3:
The trend continued with (RTP Tiger) Shuanguan Liu/Gao Sun reaching Class A over
Elias Gomez/Ira Goodman & Thomas Griffin/Eric Bailey. (See, it pays to have a team
name). 1626 Bailey upset 1723 Sun.
Group 4:
The trend stopped here. Top individual seed Ashwin Peres Da Silva had a rough start
as did his partner Richard Ilson. When the smoke cleared Morouph Osuolale/Salil
Suendran advanced to Class A, Edem Komlanvi/Stan Gee went to Class B, & Peres Da
Silva/Ilson wound up with C. Upsets included 1791 Komlanvi over 1991 Peres Da Silva,
bottom tournament seed 1416 Stan Gee over 1618 Ilson & 1632 Srendran, 1863
Osuolale over 1991 Peres Da Silva, 1632 Surendran over 1791 Komlanvi.
Group 5:
These teams fell in order sending (The Sky Blues) Tony Banjoko/Assen Dinkov To Class
A, Van Vu/Le Ly to Class B & Tom Miller/Fan Ling to C. Upsets included 1656 Dinkov
over 1793 Miller & 1725 ly over 1793 Miller.
Group 6:
This group bucked the trend again sending Amir Amidi/Dean Kapsilakis to Class A,
(Beat It) John Lee/Xiang Huang to B & (Pirates) Gerard Schreuders/Phil Dulin to C.
Schreuders/Dulin had the enviable position of being the bottom seeded team. This may
not have put them in great contention to take home prize money, but it did give them
the most opportunity to rack up ratings points. 1461 Dulin started her with a win over
1676 Huang. 1842 Amidi slightly upset 1858 Lee, as did 1671 Kapsalakis over 1676 Huang.

Semi Final Round

Class A Group 1:
Top team DJ Settle/Ray Filz advanced to the Finals over 2nd place Morouph Osuolale/
Salil Surendran & 3rd place Tony Banjoko/Assen Dinkov. 1632 Surendran & 1863
Osuolale both upset 1882 Banjoko, 1732 Filz won over 1863 Osuolale.
Class A Group 2:
This is where it got weird. A 3 way tie between Amir Amidi/Dean Kapsalakis, Chris
OBrian/Jun Ye & Shaunquan Liu/Gau Sun was decided by games won/lost ratio
sending Amidi/Kapsalakis (19/13 or 1.4) to the finals. Liu/Sun (14/18 or .77) came in
2nd by the narrowest of margins over OBrian/Ye (13/17 or .76). The only major upset
here was 1842 Amidi over 1904 OBrian.
Class B Group 1:
John Lee/Xiang Huang dropped out of contention when Lee left early. Craig Ward/John
Pahl won over Elias Gomez/Ira Goodman in the final Doubles match 11-9 in the 5th.
Upsets here ncluded 1719 Goodman over 1870 Ward, & 1589 no longer Pahl over
1676 Huang & 1719 Goodman.
Class B Group 2:
The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming! Yuri Boyko/Yuri Godin advanced
to the Finals With Van Vu,Ly Le second & Edem Komlanvi/Stan Gee 3rd. 1641 Godin
scored big with wins over 1780 Van Vu & 1725 Ly Le.
Class C Group 1:
1991 Peres Da Silva had no problems advancing his team to the finals. 1618 Ilson
helped out with a pivotal win over 1609 Hoagland. 1793 Tom Miller finally woke up with
wins over 1837 Dreyfus, Hoagland & Ilson. Unrated Ling Fan got her 1st win of the day
over 1618 Ilson.
Class C Group 2:
Plankenhorn/Soylu advanced to the finals with Griffin/Bailey 2nd & Schreuders/Dulin
3rd. 1701 Soylu upset 1761 Griffin.

Finals

Class A:
DJ Settle/Ray Filz won 1st place & $200 over Amir Amidi/Dean Kapslakis. Settle won over
Kapslakis 3-0 but it was 1712 Filz 3-0 over 1842 Amidi & 3-1 over 1671 Kapslakis that
ended it. Filz medium pips/long pips combination against Amidis short pips/inverted/
Seemiller caused confusion for those watching let alone participating. After a few hits
even the players may not have known what kind of spin was on the ball. Great table
tennis, even if it seem a little awkward at times. $100 to Amidi/Kapsalakis.
Liu/Sun came in 3rd over Osuolale/Surendran; OBrian/Ye came in 5th over Banjoko/Dinkov.
Class B:
Ward/Pahl won over Boyko/Godin 11-7 in the 4th during the final Doubles match to take
home $100. 1589 Pahl upset 1641 Godin 3-0. 1870 Ward came back from a 0-2 defecit
against 1809 Boyko to lose 11-9 in the 5th. Boyko's pips gave people trouble all day.
In the Doubles Ward/Pahl attacked Godin & played to Boyko's forehand to avoid the
pips smash. Worked out well.
Van Vu/Le Ly came in 3rd over Elias Gomez/Ira Goodman in 4, (1746 Gomez upset
1780 Vu along the way). Komlanvi/Gee came in 5th over Lee/Huang.
Class C:
It isn't enough to have a strong A player on your team. Every team that did well today
won & lost as a team, & that means the B player needed to step up to advance.
15 year old & 1991 Peres Da Silva won his matches against 1711 Heiko Plankenhorn
& 1707 Bilal Soylu, while Plankenhorn & Soylu won over Richard Ilson. That sent the 2
teams to Doubles competition to settle the dispute. After 5 games Plankenhorn/Soylu
emerged victorious for 1st place & $60. Even with our scheduling problems, this team
match was testament that the format provided premium competition at every level.


Diehard (non rating) Round Robin:
8 Never say quit players: Plankenhorn, Miller, Pahl, Settle, Srendran, Peres Da Silva,
O Brian & Ye played a 2 groups of 4 RR with the winner advancing to the Final.
Prize: $20 & the last gatorade. Matches were 2/3:  trash talk, illegal serves,
unconventional rackets & general mayhem were encouraged. In the end DJ settle
won over Ashwin Peres Da Silva.

Editorial:
2 topics. Tournaments & Umpiring.
Table tennis in the USA is not nearly as popular as in the rest of the world. Without
arguing about the many points of view, I now comment on those who do play the game
at advanced levels representing the bulk of american players. As a whole we are an
elitist, pompous bunch & it does our sport no good to continue as such. We complain
tt is not seen on tv regularly, that usatt doesn't do enough for us or the sport,
tt doesn't get the respect it deserves, etc. From the point of view of tournament
director representing many others I say: grow up! This tournament sold out weeks in
advance so I assumed those interested & committed would be up for the challenge.
Some players left early in the afternoon for another appointment. Some left because
they weren't playing well. Some stranded their team mates. Some players played until
10:00 at night, thirteen hours after they got there. Do golfers make plans a few hours
after their tee time? I think not.
It's one thing to misjudge a schedule, it's another to be oblivious of the facts.
If you can not commit all your time & attention to the event, you may want to
reconsider. If you are not satisfied with the quality or quantity of the event,
leaving early only makes it worse for others depriving them of matches.
Treat our sport, tournaments & players with respect, it will only help further our
cause. Voice your opinion to be sure, but take personal responsibility for your role.
Umpiring: Enforcing a reasonable service rule is a big topic lately & there is fallout
on the subject at every tournament level. It seems some players are reluctant to call
an umpire because they don't want to look like a whiner. Take note: If your opponent
is serving illegally to gain an advantage, it is your right & duty to make him aware. The
1st thing to do is mention the problem casually. If it keeps happening, call an umpire.
Do not make it personal. Bring in a 3rd objective perspective so you can keep your mind
on the task at hand: playing as well as you can to win the match. Staying focused is
hard to do under the best conditions, trying to keep your mind on your game is near
impossible if all you can think of is the cheaters tactics in front of you. It's even
worse when 1player is accused of not tossing the ball high enough & the other is
accused of hiding the ball. One is not worse than the other, despite your arguments.
Let an umpire watch you both & decide. History tells us that an umpires presence pretty
much guarantees both players will be serving better.
In preparation for our tournaments, I have approached our club players weeks in
advance warning blatant offenders to prepare for scrutiny. Without fail these same
players are the ones who always seem to be in the middle of controversy come
tournament time.
To this end I will keep a list of warned and/or penalized offenders who will endure a
personal warning before each tournament. They will also be told their matches may
be umpired with or without complaint.
Bottom line: clean up your serves & attitudes. I am not a serve rule nazi. Make a
good attempt to toss the ball, let it come down, strike it so the opponent can see the
contact point. If you can't do your backhand side/topspin serve with no toss/striking
the ball before it drops, stay home. I don't want to hear your whining about how no one
serves perfectly. We are enforcing a minimum rule & if you can't deal with it stay home.
Don't even try going to the US Open, they'll eat you up & spit you out. Do yourself a
favor & put some effort into it. You are being lazy & you are representing our sport,
& I as tournament director & referee won't have it.