On June 8, 2014, Dartslive Singapore held a selection tournament to determine who will be representing Singapore in the IDF World Cup 2014. The best male and female player will be selected to join Paul Lim and Harith Lim to form Team Singapore. The talented players who won the selection were Alan Chau and Goh Xue Er. Both were first timers to the IDF event.
The International Darts Federation have been holding their soft tip darts World Cup series in Shanghai since 2010. This year, it will be held at the Pullman Shanghai South Hotel, from Aug 14 to Aug 17, 2014. THE WORLD Stage 3 will also be held at the same place on Aug 17.
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| Alan Chau and Xue Er |
This is the first time Alan Chau tried for the IDF selection and he feels lucky to be able to qualify. "Although this is not the first time that I play for Singapore in an overseas darts event, the feeling is different because I have 2 pro players playing alongside me. So I will just try my best, " said Alan.
"Before joining the selection, I felt I stand a chance. Everyone stands a chance. I just want to see if I can qualify. In fact, there were also other equally qualified players like Bernard Chong, who came in 2nd, Jin Kuang and Vinson Heng."
Playing in the IDF national team event is not easy as the game format demands for the best performance of all the members. A single strong player is not enough to carry the team to victory. Alan understood this, "There is a certain pressure to perform because this is a team event. It is not like playing individually where I do not have any issue with, but now, playing alongside them, there is some pressure to perform. I will just try my best and see how well I can support them."
When asked what were our chances of winning, Alan shared, "I got two Pro players beside me so its up to us. Of course, if we play well, we will stand a chance. "
As for his training plan, Alan had already been preparing for the IDF, "I've been playing day in day out because I love this game, so I've been playing consistently." Alan also shared how to improve your playing standards by participating in the Count Up Club 1000 (CC1K) event. The event only qualifies those players who managed to hit at least 1000 points on a game of Count Up. "Based on this event, I can see that the standard of the players is getting better and better. It is a very good event."
Alan have travelled overseas many times for darts tournaments but often he did not get the chance to see the sights of the host countries. He shared, "While in Shanghai, I would like to visit some of the places there and enjoy the local food. All along, when I go overseas for tournament, many times I don't have chance to enjoy as I have to go all out for the tournament and prepare myself for the tournament. This time round, I hope I can find the time to enjoy the food down there and see some of the the scenery."
As for the ladies champion, Xue Er, this is the first time that she was selected to represent Singapore to go to an overseas tournament. She shared, "Of course, I feel great to be able to represent Singapore in an overseas tournament and to get this kind of international exposure. I feel really very fantastic."
"Before the selection event, I didn't have high hope of winning," confided Xue Er. "I just told myself to just go and do my best. I try to treat the event as a training and get more exposure for myself. There were other equally qualified lady players like Cindy Wong, but honestly speaking there are not many good lady players out there and I hope to see more lady players join the darts scene"
In order to help develop more lady players, we need to have more ladies in-house games or ladies tournaments. "Actually I do see a lot of lady players out there but they don't have the courage to participate in events. We should have a bit more ladies-only games because you see a lot of mens tournament like CC1K but there is always a gap when the ladies have to fight with the mens. I think there should be a separation of the mens and ladies in tournaments."
Although Xue Er have played with Harith and Paul on casual basis, playing on the same team with them in a high level tournament is a different thing altogether. "Of course, I feel stressed but excited at same time. I hope I can just do my best for the team"
The lady player plays a crucial role in the IDF national team event. This is because of the game format which requires the lady player to be as equally talented as the mens. Xue Er shared her training plans, "I have to train more with my partners. Intensive training and exposure is most important but at the same time, do not get too overstress."
Finally, Xue Er had already decided what she will be doing after the darts tournament is over in Shanghai: "I wanna party and drink!"
Good darts to Team Singapore at IDF 2014!
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