Malaysian tops Pacquiao dartfest in General Santos

GENERAL SANTOS – Malaysian Tengku Hadzali overpowered the country’s top darters in the four-day Manny Pacquiao P2M International Darts Classic to pocket the P320,000 champion’s purse put up by world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao.

Hadzali, winner of the Malaysian Darts Open last July, outclassed all the local darters he faced en route to winning the men’s singles finals, 2-1, over unheralded Mark Palad from Cagayan de Oro, to pocket the richest purse put up in a local darts tournament.

“It was up and down in our finals match, he managed to come back after I took the first set, as I got a bit affected by his actions in the second set but in the third and deciding set, I felt it was time to come back,” said Hadzali, who banked on his vast international experience to sweep Palad in the third set for a 2-1 victory.

In the semifinals, Hadzali took the measure of veteran Dixie Ybanez, who had already won the four-man team and the classified draw triples events with his teammates before running into Hadzali, who won both sets, 4-2, 4-1, for a 2-0 victory.

Palad beat Baguio bet Arnel Orteza with a similar straight set victory to earn the other finals slot in the tournament sponsored by Robson Sportscraft and PCSO, supported by the city government of General Santos, the Mindanao Archipelago Dart Federation, the Association of General Santos City Darters, and organized by the National Darts Federation of the Philippines (NDFP ).

The women’s side had semi-retired and many-time national champion Jan-jan Hinojales coasting to an easy victory after top seeded Philippine International Darts Open (PIDO) champion Analiza Awitan got knocked out right in the first round. Hinojales, a native of Davao City, made short work of North Cotabato’s Jervie Curato in the finals, winning, 5-1 and earning an early Christmas gift of P40,000.

“ We had record turn-outs in practically all the categories contested and this is the first time in a long time that all of the country’s top darters, even those who are already working in the Middle East, have come together to be part of this historic tournament, this will definitely be a big boost in the popularity of the sport, “ said NDFP’s Tito Soncuya who had Solar Sports, DZSR - Sports Radio, and Manila Bulletin as media partners.

Other winners in the event were Long Longyopan and Bebot Mangle in the fixed doubles, youth champion Ronnie Mar Gellaga, Gale santos and Jepoy Adumduman in the classified draw doubles, while Ybanez teamed up with Noel Maturan and Ramil Diaz in the triples event and with Palad, Jun E

Espinola, and Alan Medroso in the 4 man team division.