Looking back at his performance last year in the local and international dart tournaments,one may conclude that perhaps he's our current best. Last year he won almost every single tournament in our country and in some places in Asia. The most remarkable achievement he had
last year was his back-to-back championship titles in
Darterong Pinoy and 2008 Philippine Qualifier to the World Darts Championship wherein he displayed awesome darts throwing 12 to 15 darts in the finals. Internationally,he bagged the Japan soft tip Monster
Trophy and placed second in the Malaysian Open. Seeing him throw his darts then made me feel confident that we have a good chance in the World Championships. Late last year,however, after getting his World Qualifier title his darts seemed blinded with the pressure and the "high" of representing our country. His performance was affected and it showed in a couple of local tournaments before his appearance in Ally Pally. I've seen him ousted early in Philippines International Darts Open(
PIDO) '08 and heard of his downfall in the prelims of
Pacman Cup in
GenSan. I have always believed in his skills and dart-struck at this guy since I saw him play but having heard of his share of bad darts created some apprehensions that he might not be able to show his form in London. True enough,he fell short when he faced the ever-confident
Marko Kantele from Finland in Alexandra Palace last December. His so-so performance in succession in local tournaments definitely lowered his confidence level. Coupled with so many factors,his stint in London was not as successful as
Pinoy darters wanted it to be. Nevertheless, he still showed
power in his darts and many international spectators were still impressed by his showing. Credit should still be given to Lourence and I'm sure we will still see his solid darts this year...(If you want to watch the match between Lourence Ilagan and Marko Kantele just click it on my Video Links)
