Charlotte Benefit Open May 29/05                            by John Pahl


The Charlotte ttc held a benefit tournament May 29/05 to raise funds for brain tumor
surgery survivor Nancy Kennedy. We were able to give her over $800 to help with her
expenses during her long recovery and wish her well. The tournament sold out and was
very competetive. Thanks to all who participated and/or contributed. This is the last
tournament before moving to our new home 3 blocks down on 7th street.
Paddle Palace supplied the 3 star Nittaku premium balls, racket cases for the Junior
RR 1st and 2nd place winners, and $25 and $15 gift certificates won by Roddy Lee and
Chris O’Brian. This was our first computerized tournament with a laptop donated by
Holz-Her US Inc., software supplied by Wendell Dillon and technical support by John
Funk. Jesse Pahl recorded scores and generated draw sheets during the long 9 hour day.
Referee/John Pahl  Umpires/Ray Filz, Tom Miller & Simon Brain

Junior RR:

The Junior round robin started promptly at 10:00. All 5  were under 13 and under 1000.
We are developing a good group of competitive juniors with more showing interest every
week. If you have a junior interested in competition, please contact us in time for our
next tournament. Elias advanced to Class D of the main draw to fill in for a no show.
After the group put together some doubles, Moustapha and Christian played probably
20 more games in their non stop marathon grudge competition.
1st/Elias Gomez jr
2nd/Moustapha Nasser
3rd/Khoa Vu
4th/Christian Amidi
5th/Max Herfert

Charlotte Open:

Round robin format: 32 players, 8 groups of 4, then 4 groups of 8.
Only 2 of the 8 preliminary groups advanced in order with many upsets in the rest.

Preliminary Round Group 1:
Near disaster for top seed (2057) Norbert Herfert who salvaged his place in Class A
after losing his match to 1757 Roddy Lee in a close 5 game set. Lee then obliged
Herfert by losing to 1705 Elias Gomez Sr. The 3 way tie sent Norbert to class A,
Roddy to class B and Elias to class C.
Preliminary Round Group 2:
2nd seed Stephane Aube swept the group, but Tom Miller disrupted the order by taking
class B and  sending Samir Nasser to C. A late Bill Engelbreth advanced to D.
Preliminary Round Group 3:
Switzerland native Alex Hohl has time for 1 more tournament before returning to his
homeland. He straight gamed the other 3 leaving Tim Hogland in B over Ira Goodman,
and Randy Myott in D.
Preliminary Round Group 4:
DJ Settle had trouble but prevailed over both Jun Ye and Femi Ogundipe. Femi also
gave Jun a hard time, but ended up in class C.
Preliminary Round Group 5:
Unrated Frenchman & estimated at 1925 Jerome Coilott ran through his group. An
improved and impressive Sebastian Unanue (1641) beat Van Vu (1770) in a close 5
game set. Medhaven Potdar put up a good fight but was sent to class D.
Preliminary Round Group 6:
1780 Barney Erhard claimed class A by  by outhitting the usually steady 1909 Simon
Brain. John Nagel took class C leaving unrated Turkish transplant Mevlut Tuscan to
fight in D.
Preliminary Round Group 7:
The upsets continued in this group with ironman Chris O’Brian beating Amir Amidi.
Amir’s left handed Seemiller style inverted/pips flipping usually land him with the
better players, but today Chris’s steady play and non stop attack prevailed. Edward
Levy won over unrated Rick Thigpen to compete in class C.
Preliminary Round Group 8:
Tony Banjoko led this group in order taking A, Milind Phadke taking B, John Pahl in C
and unrated Daniel Espejel in D.

Class A 8 man round robin:
The 2 frenchmen dominated with Stephane Aube’s perfect record earning him 1st
place. Jerome Coillot lost only to Stephane and will earn him a slightly higher rating
than the estimated 1925, probably close to 2000. Alex Hohl struggled with 2057
Norbert and 1941 DJ Settle but won to earn 3rd place and an improved record before
returning to Switzerland. Norbert Herfert had a long day as the europeans he lost to
seemed to handle his long pips play better than the locals due to specific training and
a wider range of styles abundant in Europe. Norbert claimed 4th followed by DJ Settle,
Chris O’Brian, Barney Erhard and Tony Banjoko forcing them to play into his strengths.
Odd to see these big hitters try to out push and chop Norbert down while giving up on
the shots that got them there. Chris was able to pick up some points over Barney and
Tony with his usual intense, frantic, fun to play against style.

Class B 8 man round robin:
Simon Brain swept this group hardly dropping a game with Amir Amidi coming in a
strong 2nd. Both are pips players with a history threatening the 2000 mark. Simon’s
serves and counterdriving kept most out of their game while Amir flipped between his
inverted and short pips to keep them guessing. Milind Phadke left hand looped Jun Ye
into submission to break the tie for 3rd place. Sebastian Unanue took 5th with upsets
over Roddy Lee, Tom Miller and Tim Hoagland rounding out the rest of the group.

Class C 8 man round robin:
After a disappointing start, Van Vu went 7 and 1 to win class C. Samir Nasser and Elias
Gomez Sr tied for 2nd with Samir advancing. Edward Levy claimed 4th, Ira Goodman
5th, followed by Femi Ogundipe, John Nagel and John Pahl.

Class D 7 man round robin:
1st, 2nd and 3rd was decided by tie break resulting in Medhaven Potdar, Rick Thigpen
and Mevlut Tascan taking top honors in order. Daniel Espejel came in 4th, Randy Myott
5th, Bill Engelbreth 6th, and Elias Gomez Jr 7th.