The Manny Pacquiao P5 Million International Darts Classic organized by the National Darts Federation of the Philippines (NDFP) last November 27-30, 2009 in General Santos City lived up to its billing as the biggest dart tournament in the history of Philippine darts. The richest ever 5 million total cash prize was matched by the record breaking attendance of darters from Baguio to Basilan, the Middle East, Asia and from the USA. It was remarkably the richest and the most-attended dart tournament in the history of Philippine darts despite the calamity of the recent typhoons and the loss of lives in Maguindanao.

The magnificence of the stage set up and the individually lit 48 dartboards matched the demands of a truly grandeur dart tournament. The air-conditioned Lagao Gymnasium was secured by the dog sniffing Bomb Squad of Gensan and 15 visibly uniformed Philippine National Police. Wide selection of food was available to serve palate of players from the fast foods of Jollibee and Mcdonald’s to the local turo-turo over rice. The two huge tents of San Miguel Beer encapsulated the stage for singing with the Fundador bar providing added choices for the camaraderie, drinking and leisure of players.

In his opening speech, NDFP president Tito Soncuya said “this is a historic breakthrough unprecedented in its power to draw the participation of darters from home and abroad, from the novice to the hard core, from the balik-darters to the aspiring …… made possible by the generosity, support and commitment of Manny Pacquiao to Philippine darts. more>>

Christian “Ian” Perez is the 2009 Philippine Qualifier to the World Darts Championships. Ian will represent the Philippines to the richest dart tournament in the world, the £1 Million World Darts Championship organized by the Professional Darts Corporation, starting December 18, 2009 to January 3, 2010, in Alexandra Palace, London, England. This is equivalent to 79M pesos.

Ian Perez is currently the NDFP #2 ranked player and the 2nd placer in the Shanghai International Darts Open, Asia’s richest steel tip tournament last month, losing to 3-times world champion John Part in the finals.

Leading to the finals, Ian came in joint 2nd-3rd placers with Boie Parfan in the 10 player round robin best of 7 format. Jojo Barellano, the 2007 Philippine Qualifier came in 1st. In the step ladder Ian Perez faced Boie Parfan for the right to play Jojo Barellano for the championship in the best of 5 sets best of 5 legs format. Ian overwhelmed Parfan 3-1 sets highlighted by 161 double bull finish in the last set. more>>

ILIGAN CITY Dart players from Cagayan de Oro and Iligan harvested the championship titles and most of the runner-up honors in the classified three-man team and doubles of the Mayors Cup Open Dart Tournament at the Vox Grill here last November 14, this year.

Beginners Sante Coleto and Melser Mamaran of the host Association of Iligan Darters (AID) and Cagayan de Oros Rex Jilhanney ruled the three-man team category for a championship trophy each and shared the P6,000 top prize.

Tournament coordinator and AID president Jeffrey Job Abrazado said the performance of Coleto and Mamaran was a surprise to them since both are newcomers to the dart circle. The former is a city government employee while the latter is a construction worker. Jilhanney, on the other hand, is with a messengerial firm LBC. more>>

Christian “Ian” Perez, the NDFP#2 ranked player, faced two-time World Darts Champion and number 4 world ranked PDC player John Part for the championship of the recently concluded $ 122,100 Shanghai International Darts Open, the biggest steel tip darts tournament in Asia, last October 17, 2009, at the Sports Hotel in Shanghai.

The best of 19 legs started with John Part winning the diddle for the bulls and won game 1. Ian started game two and won the leg after an exchange of ton 80’s. The winner alternated till it reached game 7 with the score tied at 3-3 apiece and a break was declared. After an unusually long-long break of more than 10 minutes the match was resumed and Ian won game 7 to take the lead 4-3. At this time John Part found his world caliber rhythm and slowly but surely went on to win 10-4. more>>

The darting prowess of our Pinoy darters surprised and amazed the participants of the Shanghai International Dart Open. In the first 5 legs of the elimination round Celso “Boie” Parfan set the tone of the Filipino dominance with a shut out 5-0 win over David Fatum of the USA.

The tournament format is unique in darts but similar to billiards. The 128 pre-registered players were divided into 16 groups of eight and play 5 legs with each player in the group. Each group is led by a pre-determined seeded player and the rest are drawn randomly in each group. For 2 days each players are drawn in separate groups. After two days the total legs won are added to determine the number 1 seeded player based on most legs won and to determine the top 64 players.

In the first day Parfan has the most number of wins with 34 from a possible 35 wins. Lourence Ilagan and Arby Briones won 31 legs, Robert Reyes with 30, Mon Sabalborro and Ian Perez with 28 wins. Perez lost 7 legs from a tough group that saw 3 players reach the top 8. more>>

Lourence “The Gunner” Ilagan shocked the world of darts with his stunning and spectacular performance reaching the semi-finals of the Winmau Masters 2009 from a field of 256 players from around the world, last September 6, 2009, in Bridlington, England,

Lourence Ilagan arrived early morning from England September 10, 2009. Brimming with pride, he gave some personal insights on his trip from the Winmau Masters to the NDFP.

He came to be known as the “Dancing Filipino” with his dancing antics on stage. Initially he was being announced as the unknown dart player from Manila but as the tournament progressed and the crowd began to take notice, the announcers began calling him the “Dancing Filipino”.

His feat did not come unnoticed as people came for autographs and personal congratulations while eating in McDonalds. Being widely seen on the televised matches he played, he became a recognizable celebrity as an underdog who beat the odds. Ilagan won £3,000 for reaching the top 4 of the Winmau Masters. more>>