By John M. Damaso

RIYADH — The last weekend of darting highlighted the Buffalo Wild Wings-sponsored dart event dubbed as Darts League Classified Doubles at the Riyadh Park B-DUBS outlet here.

This was the first invitational dart

challenge so far organized by B-DUBS. The tournament was made possible through the support of store manager Erwin Manuel, shift managers Carlo Aradiano, Jay Aquino and supervisor Leomer Blanco. This event was held in cooperation and guidance of the Expat Darters of Saudi Arabia (EDSA), a prime association of dart enthusiasts based in Riyadh under the leadership of Emmer Cortez and Ferds Benting with the assistance of tournament coordinators Jess Dela Cruz, Pancho Caculitan, Val Bajade, Ariel Laxa with official photographer John Tepaurel.

Enlisted were 24 pairs of darters in mixed Class A and B ranking through a blind doubles, best of three series of games, double knockout (winners and losers bracket) mode of play.

The winning pair, Pancho Caculitan and Deng Migcampong survived a pressure-laden twice to beat match against the pursuing Chris Ibuos and Ed De Leon tandem who forced a deciding match in the first set of games. Deng Migcampong on the winner’s side accurately set a D4 outing but got busted last pin. Ed De Leon had the big opportunity to seal a D1 outshot but only to experience another busted shot. Pancho Caculitan finally unrolled the winning pin of D2 after two missed attempts that nearly led to an extended game. The crowd acknowledged Caculitan’s heroic deeds with a big applause. The B-DUBS champs earlier denied all five opponents in the knockout matches and never tasted any defeat, a record-breaking achievement so far for the dynamic pair.

Chris Ibuos and Ed De Leon claimed the first runner-up award after defeating ace player Yanzy Blanche with pair Mike Buenaventura who received the second runner-up prizes. Joel Villanueva and Christian Vestal took home the third runner-up award after losing to Joel and Christian in the earlier match.

The management, officers and members of EDSA extend their thanks to the management and staff of B-DUBS at Riyadh Park.

Meanwhile, the Riyadh Darters shall be playing in the third invitational dart challenge in Hail in the coming weekend organized by the Pinoy Billards and Darts Enthusiasts in Hail (PBDEH) under the leadership of Dan Masilungan at Lulu Hypermarket in Hail.