The first 2 day / 2 star tournament held here in Charlotte was a success on every level.
58 players came from North & South Carolina, Georgia & Virginia to compete for over
$700 in prize money, $225 in Butterfly gift certificates as well as trophies & rating points.
Saturday events focused on juniors & seniors. Sunday included an Under 1900 rating
event, Open round robin, Open single elimination & Under 4000 doubles.
Sponsors: Butterfly: $225 Equipment gift & Paddle Palace.
Tournament Director/Referee: John Pahl
Umpires: Tom Miller, Edem Komlanvi, Ray Filz
Staff: Scoremaster/Jesse Pahl; Tournament Management Coordinator/Khoa Vu
Saturday Events
Under 18 RR
8 players ranging from 10 to 16, 400 to 1030, played a round robin giving each player
7 matches. All matches were competetive, but 3 players stood out:
Charlotte's Elias Gomez Jr, Robert Dong from Martinez GA, & Ethan Jin from Suwanee GA.
The final match pit Gomez against Dong, each with a 6-0 record. Dong won 5,8,-9,-11,10.
Under 18 Doubles RR
1st Elias Gomez(NC) Robert Dong(GA)
2nd Ethan Jin(GA) David Gong(GA)
3rd David Catchpole(NC) Michael Fields(NC)
4th Khoa Vu(NC) Christian Amidi(NC)
Under 1500
This rating event was moved from sunday as per demand.
Players here ranged from 10 to 76 yrs, 355 to 1480 rating.
6 round robin groups of 3 sent the winner of each group to a single elimination match
advancing the winner to a rr group of 3:
Unrated Russel Buxton(NC) won over 1480 Frank Zimmerman(NC) 4,9,5.
1372 Daniel Espejel(NC) advanced past 1064 Ethan Jin(GA) -6,9,7,6.
1113 Bill Engelbreth(NC) advanced past 734 Robert Dong(GA) 7,-7,8,-9,9 after Dong
upset 1384 Dave England(SC).
Buxton won ($50) over Espejel 8,8,7 & Engelbreth 2,4,5 in the final rr.
Unrated Buxton may have been strong for the U1500 category, but not by much as he
went 0-3 sunday against 1668, 1737 & 1782 in the U1900.
Over 45 Singles
4 round robin groups of 4 sent the winner of each group to a semi final:
Ira Goodman(SC) won over John Pahl(NC) 9,9,9.
Stan Gee(NC) won over Eric Bailey(NC) 5,5,-10,9.
Final: Ira Goodman(SC) won ($50) over Stan Gee(NC) -7,6,10,-4,8.
Over 45 Doubles
2 round robin groups of 4 sent the winner of each group to the finals:
Ray Filz(NC) & Ira Goodman(SC) won ($50) over Tom Miller(NC) & Ling Fan(NC) 8,-8,-9,9,9.
Over 55 Singles
4 round robin groups of 3 sent the winner of each group to a semi final:
Ray Filz(NC) won over 2nd place Richard Rowland(NC) & Hugh Bridgers(SC).
James Morris(GA) won over 2nd plave Gerard Schreuders(NC) & Marsha Smith(NC).
Gerald Echols(GA) won over 2nd place Ira Goodman(SC) & Joe Rigdon(NC).
David Hjelmeland(NC) won over 2nd place John Karp(GA) & David England(SC).
Semi Finals
Ray Filz won over David Hjelmeland 5,7,8.
James Morris won over Gerald Echols 9,5,5.
Final
Filz came in at a career high (as far as modern data is concerned) of 1882, while
Morris at 1763 was down from his high of 1829 a few years ago. Similarities in age,
ratings, style & even equipment set the stage for a rematch Filz lost to Morris at
Huntsman in 2005. Since then Filz replaced his inverted with Dr.Neubauer long pips
& Dr.N short pips on the other, while Morris used Hallmark long pips on 1 side with
inverted on the other. 2 players, 4 different rubbers.
Points were often long, while 1 waited for the other to misread & make a mistake.
In the end Filz won this one -7,8,7,-8,8.
It seems odd that many seniors are changing to pips to try to even the odds with
their younger counterparts & take advantage of many not familiar with proper tactics
against different pips rubbers. The irony is that while it does seem to be an
advantage initially, it should prove to be counterproductive once more are schooled
on how to play against pips, & then the points & matches will be longer causing
the seniors more fatigue than if they were playing with inverted.
Over 55 Doubles
2 groups of 4 round robin sent the winners to a final match,
Both teams were undefeated going into the finals:
Ray Filz(NC) & Ira Goodman(SC) won ($50) over Gerald Echols(GA) & James Morris(GA)
4,6,-8,-9,7 in a match featuring more junk rubber than Sanford & Son have garbage.
With age comes patience, which translated into longer points & rallies, unlike their
younger counterparts going for the kill as quick as possible. It would have been
interesting to see how these winning teams would do in the U4000 doubles held
sunday. Maybe next time.
Over 65 Singles
3 round robin groups sent the winner of each group to a final 3 person round robin.
John Karp(GA) advanced over Richard Rowland(NC), George Cumpston(NC) & Marsha
Smith(NC). Gerald Echols(GA) advanced over Frank Zimmerman(NC) & Jim McCrory(NC).
Gerard Schreuders(NC) advanced over Joe Rigdon(NC) & Hal Braddon(NC).
Final 3 person rr:
John Karp(GA) won $50 with Gerard Schreuders(NC) 2nd & Gerald Echols(GA) 3rd.
This event featured players with varied styles, weird grips & who knows what kind
of rubber. Some of the play looked awkward, but it worked for them. Who's to say
that forehand smash coming down like a paintbrush stroke held at the very end of the
racket handle isn't correct when a knuckleball whizzes by your head like a spastic bee.
Patience here was a virtue as rallies were long & attack was always postponed for the
next ball that might just be a little higher.
All kidding aside, these seniors knew how to play, have fun & compete.
They played a lot of matches including Over 55 & Over 65 singles, gave the youngsters
a run for their money in the Under 1500, & moved like cats in the Over 55 doubles.
More power to them, we're not far behind.
Sunday Events
Under 1900 RR
Group 1:
Top seed 1863 John Lee advanced over 1713 heiko Plankenhorn 3-2, & 1683 John Pahl 3-1.
Group 2:
Chris OBrian (1827) advanced over 1691 Ling Fan 3-2, 166 David Ding 3-0 &
1378 David England 3-0.
Group 3:
Edem Komlanvi (1818) advanced over 1719 michael Yip 3-1, 1633 Eric Bailey 3-0 &
1628 Thao Ngo 3-0.
Group 4:
Elias gomez Sr (1782) advanced over 1737 Salil Surendran 3-2, 1668 David hjelmeland
3-1, & unrated Russell Buxton 3-2.
Group 5:
Tom Miller (1779) advanced over 1739 Le Ly 3-0, 1599 Stan Gee 3-0 &
1504 Phil Dulin 3-0.
Group 6:
Van Vu (1739) advanced over 1724 Chris Wellman 3-2 & 1524 He-Kong Ding 3-0.
Semi Finals:
Chris OBrian won over Tom Miller Sr 5,-5,6,8.
Edem Komlanvi won over Elias Gomez Sr 6,9,5.
John Lee won over Van Vu 3,5,4.
Finals:
The top 3 seeds ended up in the final 3 round robin, matches now were 4/7.
John Lee won 1st place & $80 over Edem Komlanvi -8,11,6,6,-2,-5,8;
& over Chris OBrian 8,-4,-6,4,-6,8,9.
Komlanvi then won 2nd & $50 over OBrian 6,8,7,-8,10.
Open RR
Group 1:
Top seed 2394 (Coach) Peng Xin cruised 3-0 through Chris OBrian, Van Vu & Ling Fan.
1739 Van Vu upset 1827 Chris OBrian 3,10,-8,8. Vu & OBrian won over Fan.
Group 2:
Jim McQueen, one of the most active competitors in the USA won his group over
Edem Komlanvi, Tom Miller & He-Kong Ding. No upsets.
Group 3:
Pablo Perez led this group falling in order with wins over John Lee 3-1,
Elias Gomez SR 3-0 & Stan Gee 3-0.
Group 4:
To the scorecards we go: Romanian Petro Stirbu (2036) now living in Atlanta lost to
2nd seed 1853 (recently 2005) Amir Amidi 2-3, but won over Le Ly & David Hjelmeland.
Amidi won over Ly but lost to Hjelmeland 2-3. (Hjemeland's awkward grip & pips with
no pace proved troublesome for the counterdriving & blocking Amidi). With each
having a 2-1 record, the head to head match up gave Amidi the nod to advance.
Group 5:
2032 DJ Settle cruised past Sam Shamseldin, Salil Surendran & David Ding.
1666 (& Peng student) David Ding upset 1737 Salil Surendran 18,4,-2,-10,9;
& 1901 Sam Shamseldin 9,-5,-5,12,9.
Group 6:
1929 Ashwin Peres-Da-Silva upset 2001 Tim Connelly3,-7,8,9 & won as well over
Michael Yip 3-0 & Thao Ngo 3-0. Connelly came in 2nd, Yip 3rd & Ngo 4th.
Group 7:
Back to the scorecards, this time a 3 way tie: 1947 Corey McElveen was 2-1 over
1724 Chris Wellman & 1713 Heiko Plankenhorn but losing to 1934 Adedayo Mokuolu.
Mokuolu was 2-1 over McElveen & Wellman but lost to Plankenhorn. Plankenhorn was
2-1 over Mokuolu & Wellman but lost to McElveen. The best win/loss ratio advanced
Heiko Plankenhorn to the quarter finals with McElveen 2nd, Mokuolu 3rd & Wellman 4th.
Quarter Finals
With 7 groups the winner from group 1 was given a bye to the semi finals.
Jim McQueen stopped Heiko Plankenhorn 4,6,5.
Pablo Perez won over Ashwin Peres Da-Silva 5,7,-10,6.
DJ Settle won over Amir Amidi 7,8,-11,5.
Semi Finals
Peng Xin (2394) had little trouble with DJ Settle 4,5,6. His penhold close to the
table pips play baffled everyone up to this point, including Settle. Peng blocked
everything with great angles, putting to rest the notion that penholders are weaker
on the backhand side. Short underspin serves to his backhand side were punched back
or dropped down the forehand side. Mostly no spin serves dared Settle to attack.
Settle has great power from both sides & earned some good points, but he was taken
out of his game for the most part by a crafty veteran 4,5,6.
Pablo Perez (2073) & Jim McQueen (2074) played for the chance to face Peng in the
Finals. Perez is an all around player capable of looping, countering, blocking &
serving most opponents into submission. (A win last year at the World Teams in
Germany representing Nicaragua earned added respect).
Jim McQueen has been a solid 2000+ player for as long as anyone can remember, his
best weapons being smarts, tenacity & patience. Good serves & a clever short table
game keep opponents guessing until he pick hits a winner or angles the ball away.
This was a hard fought match with Perez winning 12,3,-5,-6,8.
Final
Perez had opportunity to study Peng & applied his strategy well. While most served
short to avoid attack, he often served long, varying spin, frequently using no spin
balls to force Peng to act giving Perez more to work with. While most watched Peng
angle away easy points, Perez gave him difficult angles & scrambled to keep the point
going, often winning the longer rallies. Even though Perez was up in games 2-1,
he was playing the more physical game, & with 4 games needed to win the final,
slowed just enough to lose the last 3 with scores of 4,-8,-9,6,5,8.
Great effort by both & appreciated by all.
Open Single Elimination
29 players, 40 matches.
Charlotte club members took care of business with 3 preliminary upsets:
1739 Van Vu over 1901 Sam Shamseldin 9,-9,9,9.
1713 Heiko Plankenhorn over 1929 Ashwin Peres Da Silva -7,8,-9,5,7.
1737 Salil Surendran over 1947 Corey McElveen -5,5,9,5.
Semi Finals
Peng Xin over Adedayo Mokuolu 4,-6,8,-8,4.
Not sure here if the capable & energetic Mokuolu just had a great match, if Peng
faltered, or if Peng only played as well as he had to all day.
Doesn't matter, still an entertaining match.
DJ Settle won over Jim McQueen -7,9,-8,8,9 in not their first meeting & certainly
not their last. Polar opposites in just about every aspect, the hard looping
Settle won this time over the careful placement of McQueen.
Final
DJ went in with the same game plan & got about the same results, 6,6,8.
Unanimus & undisputed (are you hearing this Nigel?) overall winner: Peng Xin.
DJ is a decent looper, but will need to add more to his arsenal to get through
Peng's defence. It's difficult for a player to adjust up to this level when sheer
power got him this far. Besides winning all his matches, Peng showed just how
1 dimensional most of our games are as well as insight on how to handle opponents
power. This doesn't mean we all need to switch to pips, I'm sure he could handle
most players he faced today with inverted.
Peng's manner was calm & cool. Even though he dropped a few games, we'll never
know if he was ever in real trouble, a little rusty, or toying with his opposition.
Hopefully he will come back when we have had time to regroup & strategize.
Under 4000 Doubles
DJ Settle & Chris OBrian won over Jim McQueen & Aswin Peres Da Silva 8,-8,12,-9,9.
12 teams played in 3 groups of 4, all were competetive matches.
