THE LEGENDS OF PHILIPPINE MASTERS CUP. After dart activities slowed down in early 1982 due to internal squabbling among the sport aficionados, darts was again on a roll in 1983 as various dart organizations and dart houses suddenly emerged like mushrooms in Metro Manila and started to hold their regular weekly tournaments. Even Shakey’s pizza parlors around the metropolis also hosted weekly and big dart events. Also, top darters were beginning to gain recognition and become prominent as news and photos of winners of various events were published weekly in the popular sports column of Steve Dorotheo in the Champs Magazine and in my column in the Sports Weekly Magazine. With the sport of darts on the upswing in 1984, the DCP decided to add another national event in its calendar by staging the first PHILIPPINE MASTERS CUP which was topped by 29-year-old Jake Ubaldo. Just a thought, future winners of this new national event, Lourence Ilagan and Gilbert “Bhoy” Ulang, were only six and seven years old, respectively, at the time and probably just starting to learn how to write their names. In 1985, ADAM’s (Association of Darts-Manila) top player Nello Clutario, who was lording it over in almost all “killers” doubles events in Metro Manila, captured the men’s singles title of the PhilMasters held at the Big Kitchen in Makati, proving once more that a good “killers” player can also be a good “01” darter. At the height of the EDSA people power in February 1986, and after losing my first try in the first leg of the six qualifying rounds at the hands of Chito Yakapin, I topped the winners bracket of the final round of the PhilMasters Cup at the expense of Estoy Densing of Cagayan de Oro to advance to the finals. However, my “twice to beat” advantage in the best-of-three finals went for naught as former national open champion Ricky Castro defeated me to bag the title. The top 4 of the event (Castro, myself, Densing and Jenny Regencia) comprised the RP team that outclassed the visiting Hong Kong dart squad during the 1986 RP-Hong Interport event held at the Jorama in Manila. The following year,Jun dela Cruz of PAL won the crown while architect Joel Songsong pocketed the title in 1988. Tall, dark and handsome Ding Sumulong of Pasig topped the event in 1989 and ’90 while Dixie Ybanez of Pagadian grabbed the title in 1991. The sacrifice made by legendary Freddie Deen, who quit his managerial job in Makati in the late ‘80s to fully concentrate on his darting career, finally paid off when he bagged the 1992 and ’93 titles and became the country’s new dart sensation. In ’94, Ybanez regained the plum while Ricky Villanueva pocketed the title for three consecutive years, from 1995 to ’97. In 1998, Deen recaptured the crown in what proved to be his last taste of glory before succumbing to lung cancer. The following year, former PBA Ginebra San Miguel lead dancer Mon Sabalboro won the crown while Raffi dela Pasion and Celso Parfan III were the champions in 2000 and 2001, respectively. Joseph Domanais held the crown for two years in 2003 and 2004 while Toto Andrade topped the event in 2005. Top gunner Lourence Ilagan won the title in 2007; Boy Gionzon in 2008; Arvie Briones in 2010; Ilagan again in 2011 and Gilbert “Bhoy” Ulang in 2014. GILBERT “BHOY” ULANG began to play darts in 2003, the year defending champion Phil “The Power” Taylor was defeated by Canadian professional darter John Part in the finals of Ladbrokes World Darts Championships, ending the record of Taylor’s eight successive World titles. However, Bhoy stopped playing darts after a year to focus on his job, then came back in 2009 to resume his darting career, upon the influence of former Philippine Masters champion Ding Sumulong, his town mate in Pasig. On that same year, Bhoy reached the Top Four in the Philippine International Darts Open (PIDO). Last May of this year (2014), the 34-year-old Bhoy finally won the crown of the Philippine Masters Cup when he defeated Paul Nebrida of Zambales in the finals. Bhoy, who plays for 4D dart team, is now using Joker Diver darts, 18 grams. (Photo shows 2014 Philippine Masters Cup champion Gilbert Bhoy Ulang raising his championship trophy after the finals held in Makati.)
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 05:01:44 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015