FILIPINO darters stole the show and conquered all in an exciting opening day of the 10th Cosmo Malaysian Open Darts Championship held in Kuala Lumpur since Friday.
In a tournament filled with close and sizzling encounters, it was the dart specialists from Philippines who came out tops in both the men's and women's singles events at the tournament held at the Flamingo Hotel here.
Filipino Ryan Jay Galceran conquered all and dominated the men's singles section with his precision aim and hits in a tournament that was participated by almost 550 darters.
He defeated Malaysia's Mohd Sairol Mohamed Salim in the final while Malaysian Andre Kevin Roxario and another Filipino Jhasfher Jhaf Doria were the losing semifinalists.
Galceran walked home RM3,000 and trophy for winning the title. The runner-up received RM1,500 while the losing semifinalists won RM750 each while the losing quarterfinalists also got RM300 as cash prizes.
The Philippines' girls were just as impressive in the women singles section. Janice Hinojales reigned supreme after beating Malaysian Nur Sazleena Muliyano in the final.
As in the men's section, another Filipino and Malaysian were the losing semifinalists in Giselle Bulahao and Noratikah Dorhat.
For her fer top class performances, Hinojales won RM1,500 and a trophy; Nur Sazleena won RM750 while the losing semifinalists went home with RM400 each.
The 10th edition of the darts championships was a special one indeed. The event in both the men's and women's section saw record entries of more than 750 darters from the 150 teams were seen fighting for the top prizes.
Besides the men's and women's singles titles, the darters were also vying for the men's team and women's double titles. The finals will be held on Sunday night.
Besides the record entry, the Malaysian Open also saw a record 12 foreign countries. Besides Philippine, top teams from South East-Asia namely from Singapore, Thailand, Brunei and Indonesia were seen participating in the tournament.
Other foreign teams that completed the list were from Japan, India, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Hong Kong and Ireland.
Malaysia Darts Association president Nancy Ambrose said that the organisers will strive harder to make the tournament a bigger success next year.
"The 10th edition is really special and we are also very grateful for the excellent support from Malaysian Sports Ministry and also our main sponsor Cosmo Seike Ltd Japan. We are aiming to make it even better and bigger next year with more teams and top darters participating in the tournament," said Nancy.
Association secretary C. Pathmanathan said the profile of darts has been rising ever since it had been recognised as a full sport by the Sports Ministry.
"The support from the Sports Ministry has been good. We hope for more sponsors next year as we aim to make the tournament a major show in the international calendar," said Pathmanathan.
The participants were also happy with the first class arrangements this and were hoping for more of such tournaments in Malaysia.
Team Darts Mekanix squad manager Michael Suresh said: "This sport really has a good future in the country. It is a sport that is participated by people from all walks of life and I hope to see more youngsters in the game. Darts in the international game is fantastic and Malaysians can earn plenty by going full time here.
"We need more of such tournsments and even more youth training programmes. Only with more suppor from sponsors and the Sports Ministry, we can achieve this objective," Michael added.
