Philippine star Lourence Ilagan was crowned THE
2013 WORLD SOFT DARTS CHAMPION on Sunday 15th
December beating fellow compatriot, and runner-up
last year, Christian Perez.
The all Philippine final was
exhilarating to watch, with Perez
looking to be cruising in the first
and start of the second leg only
for Ilagan, who seemed to find
another gear under pressure, to
end up winning convincingly 4 - 1
and taking home the HK$1 million
dollars (~£80,000) in prize money.
The Grand Final was held at
the renowned Kowloon Bay
International Trade & Exhibition
Centre (KITEC), a high-tech event
venue situated in the heart of Kowloon with a total
gross floor area of nearly 2 million sq. ft.
Ilagan, known as the Gunner due to his deadly
accurate throwing style, beat Stephen Bunting in
the quarter final 3-1, then in form American Randy
Van Deursen 4 – 2 in the semis. Perez needed to beat
2011 SOFT DARTS WORLD CHAMPION Paul Lim in the
quarters, then Boris Krcmar (who
beat Japan player Hashimoto in
the round previous) in the semifinal.
Ilagan said after the match: “I feel
so happy, I felt as I was carrying
the whole of the Philippines on
my shoulders, I’m so glad to have
won today. I felt confident in the
final I practice 8 hours a day, once
I wake up I hold my darts, I put in
a lot of work to get here. I have
played darts half my life. I want
to thank all the Filipino people for
supporting me, especially my wife. Perez is a good
friend of mine, he is younger than me and often asks
me for advice, I’m sure he will be champion one
day.”