1. Donald Beckstrom (1740) - he won - Wasn't really much of a challenge for him since he found my weakness quickly and pounced.
   
   
2. Gregg McKinney (1653) - he won - After winning the first match, I believe I got to overconfident in this disappointing loss. The rest of the game went 3 straight to him and I believe it's because I under estimated him.
   
   
3. Vance Voth (1832) - he won - WOW. I thought I was aggressive. Couldn't really do much since I was feeling the stinging of ping pong balls at my core.
   
   
4. Manuel Bonano (1739) - he won - slow and steady with hitting a lot of dead balls. Every one knows how I play against that. And you can see that from the results.
   
   
5. Lei Yao (1674) - he won - Penholder. That's all I have to really say about that. Tricky misdirection shots is what came my way. I managed to take a game off by playing super aggressive but that lasts only so long when you are running back and forth all over the table.
   
   
6. Homer Roman (1593) - I won - First win of 2 in a row for the day. Played with pips on one side and inverted on the other. Just like playing Bob Kyker. Good thing I have spent many hours at the club playing Bob.
   
   
7. Gregg Rempel (1697) - I won - Counter driver / top spinner. My 2 favorite styles to play wrapped into one guy. He won 2 straight and that kind of opened my eyes to what I was doing wrong. After those 2 I went on to take the match by playing a little back from the table and using my power to keep him on the defense.
   

Championship Division
 
 
1st
Guy Hendrickson, Hutchinson, KS
Vance Voth,      Hutchinson, KS
Carl Miller,     Hutchinson, KS
 
2nd
P.J. Phachantry, Wichita, KS
Don Beckstrom,   Wichita, KS
 
3rd
Kelly Boyce,    Tulsa, OK
Britt Salter,   Okahoma City, OK
Cole Ely,       Liberal, KS
 
And now I would like to write about individual matches I played (hopefully Stephen Ackart will write a article about his experience at this tournament)

George Taplin (1816) (I won) - very trickly serve and smashes the ball. Fortunately he misses enough of them. George is not one to rally the ball but end the point as quickly as possible.

Harry Chu (1824) (I won) From Arkansas. Never push or chop to him as he can smash everything off backspin (like Suzuki from Oklahoma City used to do). Fortunately I do not backspin balls.

Joshua Bartel (1954) - (he won) - great all-around game. No one big stroke, just alot of good ground stokes from back from the table and one very effective serve (I missed it everytime he played it).

P.J Phachantry (1820) (I won) - a young player with a 2100 level forehand that I never returned when he hit it. Fortunatly, his backhand is not at a 2100 level.

Carl Miller (1808) (I lost) - went 10 to 10 in the fifth game but Carl's steady play took it's toll.

Don Beckstrom (1746) - (I won) - uses anti and hits with it and counters well if you hit the ball hard to his forehand. He plays back from the table but does not come in on short shots well which is where I won alot of points. He is a good counter hitter if you give him balls to counter with (which I tried not to do).

Bob Cockerham (1670) (I won) - use pips out, no sponge and chops and hits. Don't waste your time playing a control game against him which I did at first and lost the first game. He is very steady. You have to just hit the ball hard against him to win.

Lei Yao (1650) (I won) - penholder and plays a control game and can place the ball in the corners and edges and wherever you are not. You have to hit hard against him to keep him from running you around the table.

Sascha Rosbach (1656) (I won) - a young player that plays a straight game, no tricks, just hits everything with top spin in a pure classic style. Cannot rally for long periods however which is my preferred game.

Homer Roman (1593) (I won) - Great control player from back from the table with all kinds of spins and speeds coming at you. He got legs cramps and had to retire.

James Spencer (1522) - could not sustain rallys and did not have an over powering shot.

Class “B”
1st Place     Shang Lee
2nd Place     Kerry Xiao
3rd Place     Steve Downing
4th Place      Ilya Rozenblat

Class “C”
1st Place     Harry Chu
2nd Place     Munkhbold Bayarsaikhan
3rd Place      Kam Chan
4th Place     Raymond Pang

Class “D”
1st Place     Hamid Ezzat-Ahmadi
2nd Place    Bob Cockerham
3rd Place     Richard Hall
4th Place     John Falco

Class  "E"   
1st Place      Neil Brown
2nd Place     Nihit Bhargava
3rd Place     Travis Hirt
4th Place      Tim Dreher
   
Open Singles
1st Place      Alfred Najem
2nd Place     Parviz Mojaverian 
3rd Place     None
4th Place      None
     
Under 2100
1st Place       Brian Figg
2nd Place      Hamid Ezzat-Ahmadi
3rd Place      Jeff Johnston
4th Place      Steve Downing
  
   
Under 1800
1st Place      Terry Brecheisen
2nd Place      Bo Ivkovic 
3rd Place       None
4th Place       None
 
   
Under 1500
1st Place       Richard Hall
2nd Place      Bruce Bailey 
3rd Place       None
4th Place       None
 
   
Under 1200
1st Place       Nihit Bhargava
2nd Place      David Thurbon 
3rd Place       None
4th Place       None
 
   
Open Doubles
1st Place        Steve Downing / Alfred Najem
2nd Place       Wilhelm Kruger / Tim Yardy
3rd Place        Dale Boswell / Shang Lee
4th Place         RaFael Veliz / Pedro Veliz 
 
   
Under 3200 Doubles
1st Place       Shang Lee / Randy Liu
2nd Place      Paul Liu / James Liu 
 
 
-    Bill Lewis
-   3818 South Farm Road 103
-   Brookline Station, MO.    65619
-   President  Ozarks Table Tennis Club
-   USATT Certified Club Umpire & USATT Tournament Director
-   Local web site: http://www.ozarkstabletennisclub.com/
-   Ph. 417.890.8092   
 

7 Tulsa players going to the Okla. City tournament this weekend:
Wilhelm Kruger, Nicky Agimudie, Hamid Ezzat, Kelly Boyce, Larry Buell, Stephen Ackart, Tim Yardy

Dawson - 8 players.
2 first time out players - David Stewart and Bryce Hurst from Stillwater/Okla. City (came with Ray Pestridge).
6 players - Ray Pestridge, Bob Kyker, Hamid Ezzat, Matts Johansson, Di Jin, Huy Nguyen.

I had a fair old time in Hutchinson this year – Kansas State Fair time that is! Had waited until Thursday to get a Hotel (to ensure all at home was good to go) and found that the first 5 hotels I called in Hutchinson were all completely booked! Fortunately, the Best Western Sun Dome still had space (whew!). This was of double benefit, as I ate both Friday night and Saturday night at a wonderful Mexican restaurant associated with the Best Western, called Mia Tierra. Highly recommended!

The shoe almost got off not on the wrong foot but on no feet at all, as I discovered when unpacking I had left my TT shoes at home! I had but minutes left Friday night to acquire a new pair, which I did at the Hutchinson Mall (beautiful mall, but quite deserted, which is sadly not unusual according to some of the proprietors I talked with there). Got a pair of basketball shoes that had to do the trick, as few of the athletic shoe stores I went to there carried anything but running and cross-training shoes.

Finally, the Tournament! Guy Hendrickson ran a fine tournament, getting all our matches for the double RR over by 5. The lighting in the main room (6 tables) was much like in Bixby, while in the back room (2 tables) like Dawson. The footing was good, and Guy’s mother provided a wonderful selection of desserts and sandwiches for our enjoyment! I liked this Hutchinson the best of any of their tournaments I’ve attended there so far. There were 7 players over 2000 present, with one (Alfred Najem, from Lebanon) coming in at 2492 (although he lost in the finals to Yahao Zhang of Denver, 2267). Alfred attends many of the Kansas tournaments, as he goes to college in Kansas to get his Master’s in Business and should be there for two more years. The other 2000+ players (besides Yahao) were Franciso Mendez (2264), Parviz Mojaverian (2249), Christian Wolf (2187), Vladimir Altman (2116) and Werner Stollenmeier (2080). Guy says this is the highest ranked player tournament he has ever hosted in Hutchinson!

The format was for the 38 participants to be seeded 1-38, then divided into upper/lower half. The bottom 8 players in the upper half played one match against one opponent of the top 8 of the bottom half to determine who would play the in the upper and lower division RRs for the day. My first opponent in this preliminary round was Matt Cushing, a 1762 player (usually in the mid 1800s according to those I talked to about him) who used a Seemiller like style to hard push to the corners style and could kill anything high with consistency. He had no trouble with me as I went down -6, -5, -3.

Then we were separated into two divisions of RRs. I was in the bottom half, second seeded in my group of 4 (was supposed to be 5 but one player did not show). My first match was against Tyler Powell, a (relatively) young player (1277) who had a good touch, consistent BH, but had trouble returning my serves, which was a telling factor in my win. I watched him play others and think he has a good upside, if he keeps his focus and intensity levels high and even.

My next match was with the redoubtable Frank Heller (1446). Frank is an elderly fellow who became my inspiration for the tournament, as he rocketed around the court crashing into barriers and having a grand old time playing this game of ours for all he was worth. Although he was a consistent hitter, he had trouble with my underspin serves and I mananged a 7, 9, -12, 7 win over him. I told him afterwards he was my inspiration for his all-out play, and he replied “Well, at least I’m good for something!”

My last match in the morning’s RR was against the top seed, Teotia Seemant, a banker from Minneapolis (1700). He used an unusual racket – a penholder with spinny FH and long pips BH. He had a very smooth forehand and some fine serves, but couldn’t seem to read the changes I put on my serves and this was the primary factor in my 5, -8, 6, 2 upset.

The morning’s RR led to the afternoon’s final RR groupings. Since I finished first in my RR I was placed into the last slot of the upper divisions RR (seeded 7th of 7), where all the other players were higher ranked than I. My first match was against Carl Miller (1814), who with good control and consistent hits to the opposing corners had little trouble disposing of me -8, -4, -4.

My next match fared much better, against Josh Harris (1602), who used short pips on both sides and an all-out hitting style. Again (!) my serves gave him trouble and I was hitting well on my FH and BH sides for a 7, -7, 9, 9 win.

Probably the most satisfying win came against Homer Roman, whom I have played close for many years (1624). He uses spinny FH/long pips BH, and is a very consistent hitter with good court range and a fine touch. Again, he could not figure out my serves (-8, 7, 5, 5), which was fortunate because if it came down to pure hitting I think he would have downed me.

Next came my two closest matches, in which I had good chances but failed to capitalize. My new shoes were by this time pinching both my outside toes, but I tried to put this behind me as the ankle support was very firm (which I need due to the tremendous strain my weight puts on my changing direction lol). I played Grady Beehler (1546) to a 6, -6, 13, -5, -9 loss. Grady uses long pips on BH, spinny FH, and was extremely consistent from either side. I was a bit fatigued both physically and mentally, but I do not want to use this as an excuse for losing (did I mention my toes were hurting? hehe). He mentioned afterwards that I let him off the hook, but I truly gave it all I had at the time and simply came up short….

Next I played the second seed Zach Moore (1780), who had a very smooth FH/BH spin/drive/kill style and excellent serves. He also could play a very consistent deep defense when he had to. Although we exchanged many fierce drive rallies, his consistent offense overcame my cunning and he emerged victorious 12, -3, -6, 7, -6.

The last match of the day was against Ilya Rozenblat, who emigrated to America in 1995 with his parents. He was UR, but had played a lot in Russia before coming here. I greeted him in Russian and he was surprised (pleasantly so) and we conversed a bit amicably in Russian before he kicked my ("posterior" added in place of another word used) all over the court (-5, -11, -6). He played with Anti BH, the only one I faced like this in the tournament, and switched sides with his spinny FH frequently and seemingly randomly to my utter befudlement. He managed to go 6-0 in our RR, even defeating Carl Miller 3-0, so I think he’ll end up with a 1900ish rating.

So, I ended up going 5-5 for the day, but felt quite good since my change of style in April to a more aggressive attack appears to be maturing, and my forehand drives/backhand kills were very much a factor in my game all day, along with my serves which gave many trouble. I never relented on the attack, whether in victory or defeat, so for me this was truly a strategic victory.

After the tournament I had a wonderful conversation with Don Beckstrom about Faith and Family. Don sends all in Tulsa his regards! God was my co-pilot as He guided me safely home to dear old Tulsa, where I thankfully had the only crash of the trip, crashing in my easy chair in the living room after a long and satisfying day.

Larry Buell

Channel 8 in Tulsa will out to the Dawson club tonight to film and interview (to help with their story on the movie "Balls of Fury").