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.
After the 2nd day of elimination the top 3 seeded players were all
Filipinos and everyone came to notice the strength of the Filipino
players : 1st Boie Parfan 2nd Lourence Ilagan and 3rd Ronald “Arby’
Briones.
Top 16 seeded players after 2 days
1. Boie Parfan - Phil
2. Lourence Ilagan - Phil
3. Ronald “Arby’ Briones - Phil
4. Chris White – USA
5. Mon Sabalborro – Phil
6. Gary Mawson – Canada
7. Robert Reyes – Phil
8. John Part – Canada
9. Liu Cheng – China
10. Robert Heckman - USA
11. Warren Perry – New Zealand
12. Lam Ting Royden – Hongkong
13. Alex Hon – Hongkong
14. Ian Perez – Phil
15. Shen Juahua – China
16. Dong Yin - China
In the top 64 up to the top 32 all Filipino players won. In the
top 16: Perez beat Briones 7-5, Reyes beat Robert Heckman of the
USA, Parfan edged Amin of Malaysia, Ilagan beat a Chinese player,
Sababorro lost to Lam Tung Royden of Hongkong. Four (4) Filipinos
reached the top 8 and the astonishment of the crowd continued.
As fate would have it, Parfan met two-time world champion John
Part and made a gallant losing stand 8-6. Ilagan downed Reyes 8-2,
Perez came from behind to win 8-6 over Warren Parry of New Zealand,
and Chris White of the USA lost to Lam Tung Royden of Hongkong.
In the semi-finals John Part beat Royden and Perez beat Ilagan
to set the stage for a Filipino reaching the finals of the prestigious
Shanghai International Darts Open 2009.
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