JEDDAH, 7 June 2004 — The soothing atmosphere of Orient Pearl Restaurant’s dartroom turned riotous over the weekend as 20 hopeful quarterfinalists vying to enter the semifinals wandered in fierce encounters in the long- awaited quarterfinal round of the most prestigious 15th JEDI Open Singles tournament sponsored by Giordano and First Quadrant ME (Galli Lozano/Cass Bugaay Grp).
With numerous championship and 2003 Open Singles 1st runner-up title to his name, top seed Caloy “Mighty J” Jalbuna awesomely exhibited menacing power to take the driver’s seat with 7-1 win-loss card and 15 points, punctuated by a dreadful T80 in blanking Oca Moreno, and a fashionable “shanghai” 120 out-shot in demolishing Onoy Villamin. Jalbuna’s pride suffered a setback with a heart breaking loss against the improved Class “A” Romy Artieda who dropped a T80 bomb in the decision leg that greatly helped the worst upset to happen.
Coming close behind, early favorites 2nd seed Chris Amores and 3rd seed Lito Encabo, together with the surprising newcomer Fred Santiago identically tallied a 6-2 win-loss slate and 14 points each. Considered mostly likely to enter the semifinals, the threesome appalling treble hunters resistently pushed their lost fights to the limit in decisive matches, where Santiago startled Jalbuna with a magnificent 139 (T20T13D20) out-shot to force a rubber match and a possible upset but aborted. On the other hand, Amores, a dreaded darter of EDSA from Riyadh, and JEDI veteran darter Encabo, misfired badly in checkouts and failed to exploit their advantage.
Meanwhile, amassing equal score with 5-3 win-loss cards and 12 points, elimination top qualifiers Rey Guarin and Roland Tabing, Henry Buraq, and Boy “D’ Cute” August, slowly but surely dug their own pits. Earlier, Tabing smacked a hard T80 to quell off Jack Rubica in a decision leg, while August fearlessly ignored the exploding T80 of Victor Valdez and drew his magical power to win the decision.
Sitting at the rear but ready to grab, awarded darter Jun “D’ Idol” Jison seemed invincible earlier after running 3 streak wins that included a stunning 13 darts out-shot in crashing Paul Ajunan but later caught blinded in 3 depressive love sets and ended up with a 5-3 win-loss slate and 10 points enough to remain in top ten.
With 12 matches more to fight and holding a crucial 4-4 win-loss cards on the other corner, the undaunted bunch of spontaneous darters, Rey Formanes, Pat Cortez, Onoy Villamin, and Oca “Marvin Agustin” Moreno, who set a new record by winning two successive legs via double bulls (83 & 87) against the humiliated Rubica, are keeping their hopes alive and determined to challenge their next matches in a “do-or-die” fight to reach the semifinal. Completing the boxscore, Rubica, Artieda, Ajunan and Victor Valdez with a T80 against Apaya, equally scored 3-5, and last but not the least, the improving Ed Tuico and the seemingly out of chord during the game, veteran Class “O” darter Fred Apaya, with 1-7.
Glittering trophies and electronic items are at stake courtesy of Giordano and First Quadrant ME, the principal sponsors, and appreciable gifts from co-sponsors Kababayan Filipino food products, Rani Drinks, Nivea, Farnas Cargo, and TFC of ABS CBN.
This event is organized and managed by Jeddah Expatriates Darters International in cooperation with Orient Pearl Seafood Restaurant. For details, contact J. Quinto 059746407, J. Labanda 052357192, L. Pineda 052707694, or Ed Pamintuan 057433697.
