Charlotte 1 Star Open May 1 2005                               John Pahl
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The stage was set. 10 tables. Full size courts. 42 players.
The smell of new rubber and the sound of speed glue filled the air.
Sponsors included names like Paddle Palace and Stiga.
No million dollar purse, no media circus, just the promise of competition.
Game faces were on; some warmed up, some stretched, some sat alone going
over strategy.Unmistakably table tennis.Not a ping pong player in sight.

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The under 12 junior round robin started at 10:00.
CTTC club founder T.P. Lee and Elias Gomez jr kept score for the 6 players
on 2 tables. For some it was their first sanctioned tournament: the Charlotte
Winter Open in February 2005 held a similar recreational event.
Now it was on. This was for real, bragging rights and rating points were at
stake. They couldn't have had more fun if we brought in a roller coaster.
Even after it was over they continued playing most of the day just for fun,
challenging anyone and everyone, even arranging their own doubles.
In the end Houstapha Nasser had a perfect record earning the first place trophy.
Khoa Vu, the winner of the February event came in second,
followed by Tyler Riekenberg, Christian Amidi, Max Norbert and Mathew Brain.
All received trophies and applause; sportsmanship was evident as they won
with grace and lost with class usually attributed to more mature players.
They earned the respect of all as most realize a pat on the back today may
be returned as pity tomorrow. It won't be long before the awkward stokes
turn into power loops, simple serves become unreturnable and wild stabs are
replaced by footwork and consistency. We anxiously dread the future.

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Charlotte Open:
Out of 36 players, the top 4 are seeded out to the second round.
Bottom 32 play 8 groups of 4 round robin. The results place you in Class A,B,C & D.
Second round B, C & D players then have a round robin group of 8.
10 total matches for the day.
The 4 seeded players join Class A to form 2 groups of 6 round robin.
A final match pairs 1st place finishers from each group to determine 1st and 2nd
place overall, 2nd place from each from each group to determine 3rd and 4th and
so on. All matches are best 3 of 5 except Class A finals best 4 of 7.
Players signed up for under 3700 doubles during the day to be played after Class A
finals. Officials: John Pahl(TD/CR) Ray Filz(CU) Simon Brain(CU) Tom Miller(CU)

As well as hometown players, we received entries from all over North and South
Carolina, Virginia, Georgia and Florida. Our apologies to those we had to turn away,
we reached our limit far before the deadline for entering. We started and finished
on time, and hope to offer future entrants the same efficiency, so please: enter early!
(For those unfamiliar with tournament time management, adding just 1 player to this
format adds at least 2 hours of playing time making it impossible stay on schedule).

Many preliminary rounds had upsets at every level. Only 4 of the groups advanced
according to seeding, and some of these were close. A high of 1931 and a low of 962
might not seem competetive, but many set out to prove they were better than last time.

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Preliminary round robins:

Group 1 saw the first upset of the day with 1708 Ha Trinh beating 1931 Corey
McElveen in 5. Ha advanced to Class A winning over La Poungthana (C) and Anthony
Thompson (D) as well. He would win only 1 more match in his A round robin group.

Group 2 had Simon Brain advance to Class A as expected. Bilal Soylu beat Ed Levy
to claim B, with Ben Godin accepting D.

Group 3 fell in order with unrated visiting Swiss university student Alex Hohl
(estimated 1900) ko'ing Samir Nasser, Tom Miller & Bill Engelbreth all 3-0.
It may be a good time for Tom Miller to revert back to his higher level (1800)
right handed seemiller style grip instead of experimenting with left handed play
at 1637.

Group 4 had 1729 long pips player Norbert Herfert begin his rampage over Mike
Robinson, Brian Whittington and 1892 Amir Amidi, the last in a frustrating 5 game
set. This german native now living in Charlotte used his pips to full effect producing
dead and knuckle balls with consistent blocking and pick hitting leaving everyone
just shaking their heads as they left the table all day long.

Group 5 fell in order sending Sam Shamseldin to A, followed by Patrick Robinson,
Elias Gomez sr and Richard Ilson. These were all hard fought matches, with no
easy wins, most notably Elias and Richards 5 game battle to salvage a spot in C.

Group 6 had tournament sponsor Van Vu drop out due to illness sending John Funk
to his first visit to Class A, followed by Gene Miron and John Nagel. Elias Gomez jr
stepped in to take up the slack in Class D.

Group 7 challenged Dean Kapsilakis but he prevailed. 1582 Monther Aldwairi upset
1744 Ray Filz to claim Class B, leaving unrated John Griffing (est 1500) to fight in D.

Group 8 saw second seeded Chris O'Brian dominate 3-0 in his matches leaving Roddy
Lee to settle for B, Abhay Thapar in C and Anthony O'Neal in D. Anthony gave Roddy
and Abhay a hard time making it a very competetive group.

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Class A: Group 1
Top seed Nigel Christopher (2324) swept this group as expected. 2nd and 3rd seeds in
the tournament were in group 2. Norbert Herfert continued his long pips tear losing only
to Nigel but winning over the 4 other opponents, his 1729 over Ha Trinh's 1708, Chris
O'Brian's 1729, Sam Shamsedin's 1843 and DJ Settles 1962! I smell adjustment!

Class A: Group 2
2nd seed Pablo Perez (2052) also won all his matches this round, but dropped some
games along the way. Rodrigo Merida (2017) came in second ahead of the unrated
Swiss Alex Hohl. Alex has an obviously coached European style with good form and
footwork. He took Pablo and Rodrigo as far as they cared to go with smart aggressive
play. Better serves may make the difference next time. Simon Brain had trouble winning
the close ones, (some days you're the hydrant, some days you're the dog),((his quote))
leaving him in 4th place over John Funk and Dean Kapsilakis.


Finals: (all matches 4/7 games)

Nigel Christopher overpowered Pablo Perez in 4 straight. When Pablo was able to open
he could make some headway, but too often he waited one push too many to take the
initiative. Do you step into the fire, or take the bullet? Even though Nigel rarely
practices, he still has solid 2400 level loops with exceptional backhands.
1st place and $100 to Nigel Christopher, 2nd place and $70 to Pablo Perez.

3rd and 4th place overall would be decided by Rodrigo Merida and Norbert Herfert.
Yes that Norbert Herfert. Noberts main weapon without doubt is frustation. In this
best of 7 matchup, Rodrigo called it quits after being down 2 games to 3. Fatigue and
frustration with nets and edges make it difficult to play your best against an
unorthodox giant killer. 3rd place and $40 to Norbert Herfert.

Alex Hohl won over Sam Shamseldin for 5th place and DJ Settle showed how well he
could play against short pips beating Simon Brain for 7th place. John Funk lost a
heartbreaker to Ha Trinh, winning the first 3 games and losing the next 4.
Dean Kapsilakis got his first Class A win at the expense of Chris O'Brian, 4 games to 2.

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Class B: (3/5 games)
Top seed Corey McElveen won all 7 matches to take 1st place and $60.
Samir Nasser (1709) was 6 and 1 earning $40 for 2nd place upsetting Roddy Lee (1812)
and Patrick Robinson (1738) along the way.

Class C: (3/5 games)
Mike Robinson and Ray Filz played the last match to determine 1st and 2nd.
Mike won 3-0 for 1st place $40 and Ray took home $30.
A 3 way tie for 3rd had Abhay Thapar edging out Tom Miller and Elias Gomez sr.

Class D: (3/5 games)
Richard Ilson had a perferct 7-0 winning Class D and $30.
A tie breaker was needed to give Anthony O'Neal 2nd place and $20 over John Griffing.
The battle of the teenagers had an improved Ben Godin's 4 and 4 record beating out
Brian Whittington and Elias Gomez jr.

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Under 3700 Doubles: (3/5 games single elimination)
10 teams played with Pablo Perez and Bilal Soylu winning the all or nothing first
place $60 over Chris O'Brian and Sam Shamseldin. Somehow Perez/Soylu managed to
sneak past the far superior Hohl/Pahl team in their first match.