Singapore SoftDarts Championship 2015 review

The Singapore Soft-Darts Championship (SSDC) 2015 was finally back after a break of 3 years. Last held in 2012, the SSDC 2015 tournament was a multi-day full-day soft-tip darts tournament open to all Dartslive league players of Asia. This year's tournament was held over 3 days at the Furama Riverfront Hotel on Aug 14-16, 2015. Darters from Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia all came together to celebrate 3 days of darts galore.

The first day of the tournament was held on a Friday afternoon. A large number of darters signed up for the first doubles event even though it was a normal working day. The three Dartslive Official Players who were present, Paul Lim, Harith Lim and Cathy Leong gave a short welcome speech on stage to all the players present and kicked off the tournament with a strong "Game-On" cheer.

The first event was the THR3E Doubles 01 event which had two divisions - AB and BC Flight. In the AB flight, it was an all-Singapore team finals as they eliminated their Malaysian opponents in the semi-finals.  Singapore's Dartslive Official player, Harith Lim who partnered Joel Ng managed to put away Kelvin Yap/Jeff Lau to win the first trophy of the tournament. In the BC Flight, Hong Kong player, Sunny Tang, who partnered Singapore player, Manfred Teo, managed to defeat Winson Ong/ Bernard Tong to take the Champion title.

On the second day of the event, Saturday, the tournament started early in the morning. Players started streaming into the main hall right from the start at 9am, ready to get themselves warmed up for their big game. There were more participants as the main event of the day was the popular Medley doubles, which was divided into 4 divisions.

In the A Flight, Malaysian top player, Atan, who partnered Alan Lind, finally got his champion trophy that evaded him on the first day. The team defeated Prussian Arceno/Adrix Toh in the finals on stage.

The Friendship Pride Cup was the next major event of the day. Created by Mr. Paul Lim, Singapore's Dartslive Official player, Champion of The World 2011, Super Darts 2015 and many other major tournaments, the Pride Cup is an inter-country tournament, pitting a team of top players of each country which must include at least one lady from each country against each other to decide who will bring home the huge and beautiful Pride Cup. 4 countries participated in this inaugural event. Team Singapore took out Team Hong Kong to go into the finals, while Team Malaysia defeated Team International. In the finals, however, Singapore could not take advantage of the home ground support and they lost to Malaysia in a closely-fought game.

Pride Cup Finalists - Team Malaysia and Team Singapore

On the final day of the tournament, the main event were the Trios Medley and the Grandmasters.  There were 3 divisions for the Trios and there were almost as many players who turned up for previous day. What was amazing was that quite a few players came early and still look energetic, even though it was the last day of the tournament, to get their warm-ups so they could play their best by the time the tournament started.

In the Trios medley event, the team of Chin YS, Kson Tay, Jeff Koh defeated the team of Joseph Chung, Zack Tan, Pua Puay Chye to take the crown for A flight. In the BB Flight event, the Malaysian team of Alan Lind, Sam Chu, Nick Chu defeated a Singaporean team - Caleb Fung, Ervin Chua and Shaun Chee.

The Grandmasters event started right after the Trios ended in the afternoon. The player who won the highest Shootout score was Paul Lim. The Grandmasters event was interesting to watch as there were many strong players competing including the top Malaysian player, Norhisame Atan. The semi-finals were very interesting with Paul Lim taking on Atan and Harith Lim taking on Prussian Arceno. After a short struggle, both Lims reached the finals to setup an all-Singapore finals. During the finals, Paul Lim showed his touch of magic on his game, making it a quick 3-0 to win the Grandmasters' title of the SSDC.

Players who were knocked out of the tournament early also had some side fun playing various games at the foyer. They won various prizes for performing certain achievements playing darts. With prizes galore, everyone wanted to have a go at it! The 3 merchandise booths outside the hall also gave the players an opportunity to stock up on their darts accessories and saw brisk sales. Forest Darts and SG Darts had many dart accessories for sale while THR3E offered darts team jerseys.

Cathy Leong (back row, center in red/black) with some of the Hong Kong players

Cathy Leung, the Dartslive Official Player, who played as part of the Hong Kong players contingent, shared her feelings about the tournament, "I enjoyed the SSDC 2015 very much! It was really interesting to play in the Doubles and Trios games. I was so happy to challenge the Singapore players and was impressed with how well they played. I was very lucky to get the wild card draw on 2 consecutive days. This wild card system was really exciting to me." Cathy was refering to the lucky draw where a small number of teams who did not make the cut into the next round was selected by a random draw out of the hat.

"Some of my friends partnered Singapore players in the Doubles event", shared Cathy. "They said the event was really a good experience for them and they became good friends with their new partners. I look forward to play in the next SSDC. Hopefully, there will be a Ladies Singles event next year. Thank you Dartslive Singapore for arranging this event!"

See you again next year!

Full winners list of the Singapore Soft Darts Championship 2015 below:

01 Doubles Champion - AB Flight - Harith Lim/Joel Ng

THR3E 01 Doubles - AB Flight
Champion
Harith Lim - Joel Ng

2nd Place
Kelvin Yap - Jeff Lau

Joint 3rd
Norhisame Atan - Alan Lind
Prussian Arceno - Jeff Saw                

Joint 5th
Larry Wong, Anson Oh WL
Paul Lim, Liu Hui Yan
Lam Chi Wai, Ting Ng
Cheung Chi Lung, Ng Wai Kit

01 Doubles Champion - BC Flight - Manfred Teo/Sunny Tang

TH3RE 01 Doubles - BC Flight
Champion
Sunny Tang, Manfred Teo

2nd Place
Winson Ong, Bernard Tong

Joint 3rd
Joel Leong, Andy Tan EH
Yoganathan R, Jeremy Lau WK

Joint 5th
Eric Lum, Jeremy Lau
Kelvin Wong, Frankie Cheong
Marcus Tan, Fu Jin Ting
Alfred Neo, Danny Ang C H


Medley Doubles, A Flight
Champion
Norhisame Atan, Alan Lind

2nd place
Prussian Arceno,Adrix Toh

Joint 3rd
Michael Vesper, Stephanus Putera
Kelvin Chan, Michael Lim CH

Joint 5th
Daniel Lim CT, Nick Yap CW
Bernard Choong, Jeffrey Tan
Cheung Chi Lung, Ng Wai Kit
Kelvin Yap, Jeff Lau WC


Medley Doubles BB Flight
Champion
Joseph Chung ZJ, Alex Tan JH

2nd Place
Ahelan Thevar, Leow Nam Khai

Joint 3rd
Leo Huang SQ , Sng Xu Ren
Ken Khor, David Khor

Joint 5th
Christopher Lim, Ken Chin
Zack Lim ZH, Owen Wong KW
Angelito Icuspit, Ng Soon Heng
Tan Phuay Wei, Jennifer Yati

Medley Doubles - B Flight Champion - Aaron Choo, Melvin Tan

Medley Doubles B Flight
Champion
Aaron Choo, Melvin Tan YW

2nd place
Zack Tan CZ, Shawn Yew LJ

Joint 3rd
Derek Lau , Charles  Cai
Cedric Low, Cavan Wong

Joint 5th
Jason Ho WQ , Terence Toh
Ng Jia Jun, Ng Jia Hao
Ng Kian Soon, Alvin Chong
Jess Neo, Sheryl Sum

Medley Doubles - C Flight - Karen Ng/Marc Lau

Medley Doubles C Flight
Champion
Karen Ng, Marc Lau

2nd Place
Jose Tan, Vernon Ang

Joint 3rd
Desiree Toh XM, Victor Yeoh
Wilson Chua, Chan Jinda

Joint 5th
Edwin Lim WW Jina Woo
Amos Tham, Javier Sim          
Barnabas Teo, Timothy Khoo
Ignatius Tan JJ,Doris Peh

Pride Cup Champion - Team Malaysia

Friendship Pride Cup
Champion
Team Malaysia

2nd place
Team Singapore

Joint 3rd
Team Hong Kong
Team International

Super Trios - A Flight Champion - Chin Yee Siong, Kson Tay, Jeff Koh

Super Trios A Flight
Champion
Chin Yee Siong, Kson Tay, Jeff Koh

2nd place
Joseph Chung ZJ, Zack Tan CZ, Pua Puay Chye

Joint 3rd
Jason Tay, James Cheong, Raymond Lim KH
Eddie Hock YW, Anson Oh WL , Yeo Hong Keat

Joint 5th
Rex Tan RK, Eric Lim WY, Eugene SYJ
Steven AG Tekwan, Stephanus Putera, Raymond Noverianto
Alex Ho HL, Dennis Chia, Edmund Neo
Cheung Chi Lung , Ng Wai Kit, Wan Chi Hang

Super Trios - BB Flight Champion - Alan Lind, Sam Chu , Nick Chu

Super Trios BB Flight
Champion
Alan Lind, Sam Chu , Nick Chu

2nd place
Caleb Fung, Ervin Chua WL, Shaun Chee

Joint 3rd
Leo Huang SQ, Louis Lim, Sng Xu Ren
Eugene Sim, Cindy Wong, Neo Qiu Nan

Joint 5th
Yeo Wan Meng, Felicia Ooi, Lin Wei Li
Chuck Kah Wai, Jayvin Ng, Jeff Saw
Rence Kang, Alan Tham, Rodney Chua
Andrew Ong, Daniel Thor, Dexter Ong

Super Trios - B Flight Champion - Nicholas Mok , Nigel Tsao, Paul Tan

Super Trios B Flight
Champion
Nicholas Mok , Nigel Tsao, Paul Tan CC

2nd place
Aloysius Tong , Gregory Tan TK , Patrick Kwan KC

Joint 3rd
Eugene Lim ZH , Jarvie Wong CW, Tan Poh Rong
Stephen Low , Alan Shui , Lee Wei Lun                  

Joint 5th
Wayne Chiok , Zuki Yap, Victoria Ng SE
Alston Chiam JM , Gary Chng WL, Darren Chua TK
Ali Umle, Lee Wei Kang, Neo Duan Ting
Eunice Tan, Candy Cai, Sammi Chong

GrandMasters Champion - Paul Lim

Grandmasters
Champion
Paul Lim

2nd place
Harith Lim

Joint 3rd
Prussian Arceno
Norhisame Atan

Joint 5th
Mar Kenneth
Law Tsz Hei
Edward Santos
Daryl Lim