La Rochelle Team Log

23 June 2009: Updated with photos

The following is the diary of events that occured at La Rochelle competition recently.

5th June 09 - From Paris to La Rochelle
It was a beautiful day with cold wind - 10°C. The 3 players were getting along fine, sharing strategies and understanding each other's game better now as we approach towards the opening game tomorrow.

Team Singapore at the Eiffel Tower, Paris

The bullet train from Paris to La Rochelle took 3 hrs before we finally met Paul Lim at the La Rochelle station. It was great to see him especially for the players from Japan as well.

Team Singapore and Team Japan at the La Rochelle train station

We were on schedule with enough time for a nice meal at the Harbour Front and Paul was busy picking players from station to hotel. We finally stepped into the huge event hall for players' briefing. We were all very shocked and amazed by the size of the event set-up. We were told the number of players will double by each day for the next 10 days !!

Spectacular stage

6th June 09
We don the national colors for the first time and it was GAMES ON !

Here were the groupings for the doubles event:

Group A	Group B
1. La Rochelle	1. Remiremont - France
2. Singapore I	2. Singapore II
3. Kanto - Japan	3. Kansai - Japan
4. Alzenau I - France	4. G. Boys 3
5. G. Boys 4 - Belgium	5. Alicante I - France
6. Madrid - Spain	6. Zaragoza - Spain

There were 4 groups of 6 doubles team contesting for the doubles cup. The Singapore pair of Paul Lim & James Quek impressed everyone by topping Group A. The Results of Paul/James were as followed in the Knock Out Stage:-
- vs Alicante II ( Spain ) won 4-2
- Quarter-finals vs G. Boys 3 ( Belgium ) won 4-0
- Semi-finals vs San Francisco ( USA )won 4-2
- Finals vs Sacremento ( USA ) 4-3

In the finals game, you could almost hear the pin drop as the US pair had only a 4 left to checkout but missed horribly with 2 darts and was left with a single 2 on the third dart. 58 was left for Paul to finish and he needed no reminder as he took out single 18 and a sweet "double-top" 40 to clinch the match complete with a spectacular, thunderous champions stage music.
A cool start to La Rochelle don't u think ?

Paul Lim warming up before the big finals

Paul/James on stage with their champion trophy

Team Singapore with their first trophy

7th June 09
Today, the Singapore flag was flying prominently on the center stage. Players were seen busy taking pictures and signing autographs as well.

The Team Event ( foursome ) started on schedule. In the round-robin, we had to work hard to beat the Belgiums followed by the Portugese. Although we lost to Japan, we reached the Knock Out round.

Singapore flag on the Finals stage

Team Singapore with Team Portugal

France was our next victim by 4-1 and we again made it to the Semi-finals. We took on another French team and by this time the home crowd was cheering the local team loudly on every set of the game. We led 3-1 in style and then suddenly the unpredictable crept in. The French came back and managed to level at 3-3. Paul misses the double 8 and the French capitalised by taking out 22 to an emotional loud-cheering victory. They wanted it much more than we did as it was national pride for them with a vocal home crowd. They deserved the win. Singapore was gracious in defeat and we wished them well in the final. We exchanged a full set of shirt with the French.

So, it was back to the resting area, cold beers, cold wind under the beautiful sunlight, lamenting over the defeat which should not have been. Sigh...

Posing with other friendly darters

8th June 09 - Prestige Cup - Team International
The first 2 days were energy-sapping even with the French Loaf & Kroninberg beer. Daryl was the hardest hit. Completely drained. We were looking forward to another good performance in this important event. We scraped through to the Knock Out stage. However, we hit the "rock". Now, the Spanish army of young, energetic darters were marvelous in their delivery. The strokes were right-on. Although the score-line read 4-2, we were out-classed by the combination of talent and experience. After all the Spanish were the Defending Champion in 2 straight years ! And yes, they were superb against the USA in the Finals winning 4-1 to win the Prestige Cup !!

For Team Singapore, we did fantastic. The players learnt alot from Mr Paul Lim. He was all praises for our lads. Well Done Singapore !!

Team Singapore with their International Event trophy

Team Singapore, back in Singapore with all their trophies

360° Medalist Singapore Championship 2009 Review

21 June 2009: Updated with photos

It was an eye-opener event, especially for the many first-time Medalist tournament players. The 3-day, all-day (and night) darts tournament was held at 360° by Tornado, which is located at the newest shopping center in town - Iluma. The location, which is also the title sponsor of the event, worked continuously day and night in order to complete the renovation to stage the event. What resulted was, the BEST location Medalist ever had to stage the biggest ever Medalist tournament in Singapore. In fact, it was probably the largest darts tournament ever held in Singapore, with more than 200 darters participating in the event. Players also had their names shown on the huge wall-to-wall chart and had a wonderful shopping choice with a huge array of darts barrel, darts accessories and T-Shirts sold, most of which are never sold before in any shop in Singapore.

Joining our local Medalist darters for the tournament were players from Indonesia, Guam, Saipan, Thailand, Japan and Korea. The local and foreign players had a good time mingling together and exchanging darts tips as well as the t-shirts off their back with each other.

The event began early on Friday morning with a traditional Lion Dance opening ceremony performed by our fellow darters from Le Bar. The Lion Dance was an interesting opening especially for the foreigners. The 2 lions proceeded to show their lively stunt movement and ate tangerines and arranged the citrus slices into an auspicious number, spreading happiness, longevity and luck to the audiences.

The Lion unfurls the welcome banner

Trophies Galore

Players warming up

Wall to wall chart

Mr. Lee Peppard, Chairman of Medalist USA-Asia, gave the opening speech. This was followed by Mr. Paul Lim, Singapore’s most famous champion darter, who wished all the players good darts for the 3-day darts gala event that is about to start.

The first event started promptly at 11am with the Doubles-01 separated into 3 flights. The top teams of each group proceeded to a single elimination fight that finally culminated in an exciting finale. All the finalists were introduced on stage and then given the exciting traditional Medalist “Pit March”.

In the A flight, the Korean pair of Kim Gijung and Park Hyunchul came out tops against Erika/Jamal. In B flight, the pair from Team Sake – Nicholas and Ken Tan defeated No Clue’s Andy Choo and Tee Kok Ping, while in the C flight, it was an all No Clue’s finals with Kewin Chew/Ivy Lee defeating Lionel and Belinda.

C flight winners: Kewin Chew/Ivy Lee (1st) and Lionel/Belinda (2nd)

The afternoon event was the Puma 01 medley which started promptly after that. In the AB flight, the Korean pair of Kim Gijung/Park Hyunchul again came out tops, defeating James Quek/Joreen Yeo. No Clue’s Andy Choo/Tee Kok Ping came back from their earlier loss and finally won the BC flight champion, edging out the team from Twenty’02 - Simon Lim and Wong Choon Ming.

Puma 01 Winners (AB Flight): Kim Gijung/Park Hyunchul (1st) and James/Joreen (2nd)

Events for the first day completed on schedule around 8pm but some players clearly were not tired and proceeded to their favourite locations for more games and parties.

The second day’s turnout was larger than the first and some players even came as early as 2-hours before the event to get a good table and start warming up. The first event of the day was 01-Medley doubles and the Korean pair of Kim Gijung/Park Hyunchul, again came out tops in the A flight, defeating the local pair of Daniel Ong and Jack Wong. In the B flight, CheeWee/BeeLian defeated Vince Yong/Eric Chong while the Saipan team of Ramon/Charlotte took their first C flight champion trophy, defeating Lionel/ Belinda

Day 2 Medley Finalists (B/C flights)

01-Medley Doubles Champion (A Flight): Kim Gijung/Park Hyunchul

01-Medley Doubles 3rd place (A flight): Takahiro/Akihiro

01-Medley Doubles 2nd place (B Flight): Eric/Vince

01-Medley Doubles Champion (B Flight): BeeLian/CheeWee

The afternoon event was Team Super-Countup with exciting finals match. The AB flight featured the Indonesian team Eko/Johanes vs. the local pair of Andrew Robinson/Skinny Wong while the BC flight pitted the local real-life couple of Andy/Jasmine against Saipan’s Ramon/Charlotte. The cheering lines between camps were clearly defined and all camps gave their teams loud cheers and claps whenever they hit bulls. In the end however, both the foreign teams, Indonesia and Saipan, came out tops to win the champion trophies. However, everyone cheered for all as the finals game was nail-biting and the best team won.

All SCU Finalists

SCU champions (AB flight) : Eko/Johanes

SCU champions (BC flight) : Ramon/Charlotte

Day 2 also featured an exhibition match between Team Singapore (La Rochelle) vs Team International, a selection of the top players from various countries.

Team Singapore vs Team International

Day 3 started with the fun yet strategic game of Air-Attack. Players took time to discuss on the strategy and guess the hidden numbers. The finals featured the local pair Daniel Ong/Jack Wong showing their balloon busting skills to defeat the Korean pair of Jinwook/Jupyung in the AB Flight. Ramon/Charlotte continued their winning streak in the BC Flight, beating Samantha/Candy.

Air Attack Finalists

Air Attack Champion (AB Flight): Daniel/Jack

Air Attack Champion (BC Flight): Ramon/Charlotte

The final and most exciting Team Trios event started a little late due to the previous event but it was the most exciting and anticipated event as teams represented their respective locations and it was the event with the best and biggest trophy of all. All teams from various locations and countries were introduced on stage and took group photos before the event. Two of the locations, No Clue and Forest Darts, with the most number of teams were also the current trophy holder for BC and AB flight respectively and were gunning to retain the gold trophy.

Trios Teams from Forest Darts

Trios Teams from Ice Karaoke

Trios Teams from Le Bar

Trios Teams from No Clue

In the exciting AB flight, the semi-finals pitted Forest Lion against Team Guam and Le Bar’s Darts Project Junior against Team Indonesia. Both local teams fought very hard to get into the finals with the strong cheering support but the Indonesian and Guam team overcame the local teams to move into the final. In the end, Team Indonesia won the finals. Forest Lion and Darts Project Junior played an extra game to determine the 3rd placing to get to hold custody of the cup for another year. In the end, the Forest Lion players of Tony/Ng NK/Frankie fought and showed their determination to keep the trophy, edging out Le Bar’s Johnny Khoo/Jack Wong/Andrew R.

AB Flight Team Trios 3rd place: Forest Lion (Tony/Ng/Frankie)

AB Flight Team Trios 2nd place: Team Guam

AB Flight Team Trios Champion: Team Indonesia

As for the BC flight, it was an all-local affair with the Forest Fire team defeating Team Le Darts (from Le Bar). Forest Darts had won the right to keep both Team Trios trophy for another year and all their red-shirted players were overjoyed with the win.

BC Flight Team Trios 2nd Place: Team Le Darts (Le Bar)

BC Flight Team Trios Champion: Forest Fire (Forest Darts)

By the time all the prizes were given out, it was close to midnight and players streamed out slowly, happy regardless of win or loss. It was a 3-days long of fun darts and cheering, of making new friends and renewing ties with old friends. Charlotte, from Saipan, says “I never, ever had so much fun playing here over the past 3 days. I never expected to win but I did! And I had played so much and made many new Singapore friends. Thank you so much.”

Medalist thanks all the Singapore players for their participation and support in this event as well as their valuable feedback on the website forum and feedback (paper) form, which will definitely help us organize a better tournament next time. Medalist would also like to thank the sponsors: Medalist USA-Asia, Puma and especially the title sponsor, 360° by Tornado, for their enormous effort put in and co-operation to make this event a successful and memorable one for the players.

La Rochelle Day 3: International Dream Team event

On the last event for our Team Singapore players at the La Rochelle tournament, the International Dream Team event, our players finished Joint-5th.

The Dream Team event features only one team of 4 players per country and there were 9 teams or countries participating. Unfortunately, Team Singapore lost 4-2 to the Spanish team, which then went on to to claim the champion trophy for the event.

Although they did not get very far into the event, all the players were satisfied with the tournament as it was an eye-opener for them. They will have another 2 days of rest and relax before returning to Singapore. In the meantime, the La Rochelle tournament is still ongoing with subsequent days scheduled for their own French league players.

Lets congratulate our players for their success in the La Rochelle tournament!

La Rochelle Day 2: Team Singapore reached the semi-finals of the International Team event (4-some)

This just in:-
7th June 2009: On the 2nd day of the La Rochelle tournament in France, Team Singapore which comprises of Paul Lim, James Quek, Albert Chia and Daryl Lim, reached the semi-finals of the International Team event (4 players per team)!

Update 2pm @ 7th June
The four-player Team Singapore was knocked out of the International Team event (four-some) by the French team to end up at Joint 3rd position.

8th June will be the last day for international teams and most important event of all - International Dream Team event. We'll post more information for you as we get them from France.

La Rochelle Day 1: Paul Lim/James Quek wins champion in La Rochelle Doubles event!

This just in:-
6th June 2009: The Singapore team's double pair of Paul Lim and James Quek wins Champion on the first day event of the La Rochelle : International Competition Master Level Doubles!

The event, which started in La Rochelle, France on the 6th June morning, finally ended at night with Paul Lim/ James Quek topping other international teams, including Spain and Japan to win the champion prize.

At the Master Level, there were 24 teams playing in 4 groups of 6 teams in a round-robin fashion. The top 4 teams of each group proceeded to a single elimination round. All games are best of 7 games of alternating 01-Cricket.

As internet connection is difficult to find at La Rochelle, details on the event is limited. We will post more details as we get them.

updated 7th June, @11pm with game format details

¨¨Have Darts Will Travel¨¨ La Rochelle

Our Team Singapore / La Rochelle shares with us their adventure traveling to France for the La Rochelle tournament in this blog posted directy from France...

04/06/09 - Paris, France. Weather 10°C
What a pleasant surprise! We took the new Singapore Airlines SQ Airbus 380. It was only the 3rd trip for the Airbus 380 out of Singapore to Paris ! And what a smooth flight it was. Cheers Singapore Airline !

We arrived at 7 am in Paris and ran smack right into the crowded train for our first stop - Gare Du Nord. The train conductor played some music with the ¨fong xin¨, had to tip him though. Changed to the M5 train for the last stop - Place d'Italie. We were all too relieved to exit out of the train station to breathe the nice cool air.

Thankfully, the Mercure Paris Hotel was a short walk away. We threw our bags at the reception and headed straight out to the Eiffel Tower. A magnificent view await us as we approached. We took lots of pictures, of course. Following this, we walked along the streets, enjoyed the sidewalk cafe - red wine with chicken sandwiches to go along.

Later in the evening we met up with the Japanese Team. We exchanged some T-shirts and headed down to Paris Belvedere where we had some warm up games.

We headed back to the hotel by 12 midnight. It had been a tiring day. Things are very expensive here. Even for basic stuff like transportation and food.. For e.g. $6.00 for a bowl of Korean rice !? Almost everything costs double S$ ! Except for wine and beer hehe ...

Looking forward to La Rochelle tomorrow !!!

Team Singapore La Rochelle interview

Tomorrow, the 3 local Team Singapore players will be traveling to France to play together with Paul Lim, Singaporean Darts Extraordinaire, against other top teams from France, Europe and around the world in the Intercity Cup Prestige held at La Rochelle.

They will be playing in various events over the 3 days as well as representing Team Singapore in the main International Dream Team event. In between training, the 3 players sat down with me for a no-bulls interview. Here is an excerpt of the interview.

How long have you been playing darts?

DARYL: I started playing since August 2008. It was during an in-house darts game held one night at a pub that I frequent. I was asked to join one of the league team, which was short of a player for the 5th Trios League.
JAMES: I have been playing darts since 2000. A friend introduced it to me.
ALBERT: I started off with steel tip darts 12 years ago and switched to soft-tip darts 2 years ago.


How often do you practice and what is your training routine?

JAMES: I throw darts at least 5 days a week, focusing on Half-It, Cricket and target practice on doubles 1 to 20 and bulls-eye
DARYL: I practice as and when I'm free at home or at my home ground. No specific routine. In the first place, I didn't expect to get this far in the Estate Bar La Rochelle selection event. There are other better darters who did not participate. Since the chance was given to me, I will go all out for it. My home ground, Yin’s Place, was very supportive of my trip to La Rochelle. They also accommodate my time to open the location for my practice.
ALBERT: I have been practicing darts 3 times a week for the last 1 year. Other than the usual cricket and 01, I practice by throwing 100 darts on each number.

What are your aspirations for the Team Singapore during the La Rochelle competition?

DARYL: I always wanted to represent Singapore and make my country proud. So this is my opportunity. My aim is to achieve my best and bring the champion trophy back.
JAMES: I am very excited about the competition and eagerly looking forward to winning this tournament.
ALBERT: I hope to gain more exposure and experience playing in the international darts scene as well as bringing back the champion trophy.

Join us in wishing these 3 players the very best of luck and lots of bull in the La Rochelle tournament in France!

The above is an excerpt of the interview. Read the complete interview in the "Hat Trick!", the 2009 magazine of the Medalist Singapore darters, launched at the Singapore Championship 2009.

Singapore Championship 2009 ends

After 3 full days of party-fun darts from morning to night, The 360° Medalist Singapore Championship had finally ended.

It was the biggest Medalist darters gathering ever in Singapore and everyone had a fun time challenging each other to get that opportunity to take that finalists' march. There were also darters from Guam, Saipan, Thailand, Korea, Japan and Indonesia, and by the end of the 3 days, everyone had made new friends and partied hard.

Held at 360° by Tornado, the event hall is an amazing location for any tournaments and sets a new standard that is hard to beat. We will post some pictures up soon, so check back again.