Kitchen Darters 2nd at M’sian Open

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s top team Kitchen Darters once again proved they are a force to be reckoned with when they emerged first runner-up in the 28th Malaysian Open Darts championship held in Malacca recently.

They lost to the Philippines spearheaded by top player Lourence Ilagan in the final.

Enroute to the final, the Sabah darters made short work of Singapore’s top team in the quarterfinal and in the semifinal they defeated a strong Kuala Lumpur-based team.

After the tournament, Malaysian Darts Federation (MDF) president Dharam Singh told Kitchen Darters’ team manager Freddie Ch’ng that the selection committee was likely to pick a Sabah darter for national training in preparation for the Asia Pacific Cup to be held in New Zealand in October.

The Kitchen Darters comprised team captain Lim Seng Hin, Clairines Joseph, Yusri Sahat and Dennis Doughty.

In the men’s singles event, Lim, the 2007 Malaysian Open champion only managed to qualify for the last 64 while team-mates Clairines and Yusri were stopped by tough opponents in the last 32.

The Kitchen darters – four-time Sabah champions – first qualified for the final of the Malaysian Open in 1997. No other Sabah teams have gone that far in this world ranking event.

Sabah women darters – Bernadette @ Pipa, a 17-year-old student from Penampang and Susie Deveera Williams – also did the state and country proud by taking the two joint 3rd/4th spots (see separate report).

In the men’s singles event, Penang’s Tengku Hadzali’s experience was brought to bear in his epic 4-2 victory over Lourence who was the pre-tournament favourite.

Tengku rode roughshod over the Filipino to win the top prize apart from earning 120 world ranking points to claim the 43rd spot on the WDF ranking list.

Some 400 darters from Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and the Philippines took part in this year’s Malaysian Open organised by the MDF and sanctioned by the WDF.