Interview with Lourence Ilagan, Dartslive Official Player

With a thousand eyes following his moves on stage in the cavernous Hong Kong KITEC hall and tens of thousands more online, Lourence Ilagan walked to the throwline, threw two bulls, readjusted himself and then shot the final checkout dart of triple 11. Everyone cheered and shouted loudly. Lourence was jumping, overjoyed. Lights went up, confetti rained down, and the soft tip champion darter of the year was crowned with the biggest HKD$ 100,000 pay cheque.

That was in 2013 when Lourence Ilagan defeated Christian Perez 4-1 to win The World Soft tip darts champion. Since then, life has changed a lot better for him. Recently he was able to visit Singapore for a tour of some of Singapore's darts bar, organized by Monster Barrel Design and DartsSingapore. Lourence feels at home in Singapore and considers it to be his second home because it is very clean and organised and he has quite a few Filipino friends in Singapore. During the tour, he played some friendlies with local darters. However, he showed why he is still at the top of his form, closing down most of the opponents within 3-4 rounds of the game!

Lourence have been playing darts since his teenage years and he has been accumulating a long list of titles, trophies and accolades over the period. He is a two-time quarter-finalist (2000 and 2006) in the WDF Asia-Pacific Cup, finalist at the Philippines Open in 2006 and 2007 and Malaysian Open, 2008. He also won the National Darts Federation of the Philippines qualifier to earn a place in the 2009 PDC World Darts Championship.  Lourence reached the semi-finals of the 2009 Winmau World Masters and represented the Philippines with Christian Perez in the 2012 PDC World Cup of Darts. He also won the 2013 Hong Kong Open champion title.

Lourence Ilagan, at iDarts Fame

Lourence started playing darts during his high-school days. How he got started into darts was quite unusual. On his way back from school, he passed by a shop where a game of darts was going on. As is typical of small towns in Philippines, darts was played at small stalls or pubs along the streets. His leg was accidentally hit slightly by a dart that bounced out. He picked it up and threw it on the dart board and it hit the bull ! Amazed, his friend asked " Oh, can you play darts?" and passed him 3 darts and he hit 3 bulls with the darts! "OK, let's play darts!" said his friend and they started playing and making friendly bets amongst each other. A week later, he joined a local tournament and got second place!

"During my school days, I couldn't enter the local pub with my school uniform after classes. So I had to bring an extra shirt and pants to school and change into them before going into the pubs for darts!" explained Lourence. At that time, he was around 16 and was obsessed with darts. "When I woke up in the mornings, I wasn't holding my pen or my books. I was holding my darts in my fingers!"

Hailing from Cainta, near Manila in Philippines, the darts scene there is getting more vibrant with many good players. However, Lourence lamented, "Unfortunately, there is still a lack of sponsors to help the players."   Lourence helped set up a Darts Development Youth Squad Charity - for the youth darters and for players affected by natural calamities like Typhoon Yolanda. "There are a lot of darters who are affected by these natural disasters that occurred in Philippines, so we would like to give them our support either financially or through some darts accessories."

"Right now, I try to encourage the youth players. I have a darts clinic at my house to teach them basic things like how to hold darts. The darts scene in Philippines is getting better now because of soft tip. Now they are learning to play soft tip using the Dartslive 100s home board although we still don't have big soft tip machines like Dartslive2 in Philippines. I hope someday, we will have it, " shared Lourence.

Despite the challenges in Philippines, there are some darters who practise hard, day and night, in the hopes of making it big one day. Lourence explained, "Actually, I heard one of the reasons why they want to play darts full-time is because they want to follow my footsteps. I am happy about that. They are also full-time darters like me. We share the dream of being a champion and of course, they know there is big money in soft tip tournaments which will be a big incentive for them to support their families."

The Filipino legend who has made it big in sports is World Boxing champion, Manny Pacquiao. "Actually, Manny Pacquiao is also playing darts. I was so surprised by the way he threw darts. He can throw triple 20, triple 20 using his right hand, and then switch to left hand for another triple 20!, " remarked Lourence. "He likes playing darts and has steel tip board and 2 soft tip boards in his house. Manny also has his own signature darts by Target. He is a good player but seldom joins darts tournament."

The inspiration to be the best in darts came from his mentor, the late Freddie Deen III. Freddie was once the highest ranked Filipino in Worlds Darts Federation (1993) and former World number 3 player. Freddie also had his own signature darts set made by Unicorn and was the first Asian to sign a contract with Unicorn as one of their signature players. Lourence shared, "He had taught me me a lot of things, not only darts related. He taught me how to discipline myself and believe in myself especially during tournaments. He also taught me how to prepare myself before the game.  For example: how many hours of training, sleeping or resting is needed."

Winning The World 2013 Championship had changed Lourence's life drastically. He shared, "I used the winnings to complete building my house. I am the sole bread-winner for my family and I don't have a regular job. I only depend on darts. I'm a full time darter. So when I get this opportunity, I don't want to waste the money. I put the money in the bank and invested it into my own house. Before that, I could only rent and it's so hard to rent in Philippines as I had to pay for electricity, water and everything for the house. Now, my life is better because of darts."

Lourence Ilagan, happy with his achievements so far

Lourence has a practice routine that he sticks to. "When you practice darts, make sure you practice with the right frame of mind. Don't practice when you're tired or just back from a long day at work. Make sure you are serious because in a tournament or game, you need to be serious." Lourence himself practices for 8 hours a day, every other day. He shared his practice routine, "When I wake up, I hold my darts and practice for an hour just on the bull or triple 20, it doesn't matter. 1 hour in the morning, 3 hours in the afternoon and 4 hours before bed-time. However, even if you practice 8 hours, it doesn't mean you will get better. It also depends on how you apply it during the game because darts is also a mental game."

After sparing with some of the Singapore darters, Lourence feels there are quite a lot of good players in Singapore. He shared this advice, "To all Singapore youth darters who are still studying, you have to finish your study first because darts will always be there. The most important thing at your point in life, is to finish your school before you play darts. To the rest of Singapore darters, if you want to reach your goal or be a world champion, keep practising and always believe in yourself!". True words spoken by a champion.