I didn’t think there was anyway to top the great times Warren and I had last year…HA was I wrong!  This year, not only did Warren come back, but my buddies Chris White, John Part, Gary Mawson, Dave Fatum, Paul “Dartoid” Seigel and Koichiro Ueda to name a few, made the trip as well.  I also cannot forget the host of other top players from around the world that came as well to enjoy Shanghai.  We had players from Thailand, Philippines, Hong Kong, Ireland, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, United Kingdom, Malaysia, Russia, New Zealand, Canada, and of course, the United States of America. 

Ok, enough of the background let’s get down to the good stuff, so where do I begin?  Hmmm, well I guess I will just have to start with Day 1, which was five days before the actual tournament started.  A little bit of promotions, exhibitions, substituting on Shanghai Dart League night and of course let us not forget the all important “Shanghai Shenanigans”!  Yes darts is not only about playing the game for me, but the good times had in making new friends and meeting up with old friends are just as important.  I always like to sum it up as, “It’s all about the memories.  You’ll never get these times back!”  With that said – here goes the story! 

Saturday, October 10^th - DAY 1 San Francisco, California to Shanghai, China

My good mate and fellow PUMA player, Chris White and I got into Shanghai at 9pm after a nice short 16 hour trip from San Francisco.  We were greeted at Shanghai’s Pudong Airport by my friends and fellow tournament organizers Tyler, Bookie, Phil and John Fey.  It was instant smiles from everyone as we were glad to be back in Shanghai again!  The funniest part of it all was them asking if Chris and I were tired and just wanted to go to the hotel and sleep….LOL!  What do you think we said?  You guessed it, no way were we going to bed this early.  We had to get our internal clock adjusted to the time difference you know!  Shanghai is a full 15 hours ahead of San Francisco time and it felt like the morning to us.

It was a 1-hour car ride to the Sports Hotel 21 in the Xu Hui District of Shanghai.  This was where the venue was held as well, so that made it very convenient.  As we entered the Xu Hui District, you started to notice green banners on EVERY light post.  Bookie let us know the banners were all throughout the district and promoted the upcoming SIDO.  When you looked at the front of the hotel, it was amazing to see the tournament being promoted on the huge span of glass, which made up the entire front half of the hotel.  The glass had huge see through posters which advertised the tournament in English and Chinese.

We checked into our room which was very nice, thanks Bookie!  We cleaned up really fast and back down we came to meet everyone in the lobby.  Tyler had a little nightlife spot he wanted to take us to, so off we went to the “Muse”.  Let’s just say the “Muse” was just as amazing as any top notch club would be in Las Vegas, you can use your imagination to paint your own picture.  After a couple hours at the “Muse” we decided to hit my old favorite, the “Green Dragon” bar.

The “Green Dragon” is a wonderful bar, set up like an old Irish Pub with dark wood beams and fixtures.  The place is actually pretty big and is where Bookie and Phil play league darts.  They have six steel dart boards, two billiard tables, a foosball table and plenty of beverages to go around.  The house specialty is playing the local talent a game of pool.  If you win, you get any drink you want for free.  But if you lose, the same goes for you and you have to buy the lovely lady you played a drink.  Before all you billiard hustlers think you’re drinking for free all night, the employees are some pretty good, no very good players.  Morning came, LOL yes morning is right!  I can’t remember what time exactly, but let’s say people were going to work.  Now we were ready for a nice five hour nap before day two was to start….

Sunday, October 11^th – Day 2

Our buddy Dave Fatum was coming in today and would be meeting us later in the evening.  It was around 3pm on Sunday and our phone rang, waking us up from our nap.  We got dressed and off we went to our first bit of promotion.  We were going to a local billiards club to play against some new darters.  The billiards club had two soft dart electronic boards inside.  The owner greeted us with a warm smile and into his place Chris and I went. 

The players that were there, had just begun to play darts and the interest level was spreading throughout Shanghai.  More and more people have taken up the sport and the enthusiasm for it is incredible.  At first Chris and I helped everyone out by giving them the basics of playing darts.  The form, hold and throw.  We watched anyone who wanted to get some pointers, and then we played singles against those who were willing, which meant everyone in there! 

They decided to have a “mini” doubles tournament while we were there.  Chris and I were paired up with a couple newer lady players and everyone else chose there own.  It came down to Chris and his partner against me and mine in the finals.  There was great suspense, as the finals would be decided on the last leg of 501.  Our partners were having a great time and people were enjoying watching some good darts being thrown.  Chris and his partner won the last leg and that concluded our first promotion tour.

The owner thanked us for coming out to help the newer players and presented us with a wonderful gift.  Our gifts were hand painted art banners with Chinese caligraphy which he did himself!  The banners were phrases of inspiration to help promote self confidence.  A great piece to go above my board in the practice room!

Now it was time for some dinner!  You really have to be in Shanghai to appreciate the culinary experience they have to offer.  We were going to a special area, which was about an hour drive from where we were called Yang Chen Lake.  Crab was the main item on the menu and the crab we were going for only had a two month season.  Lucky us, we were there at the right time!  We were hosted by the owner of the restaurant and treated to a culinary delight.  Chris even got into the spirit and was trying everything, even taking part in tasting a little fish eye!  It was definitely shaping up for a great and lasting memory once again of good times with the buddies.  I can’t remember how many bottles of yellow wine we went through or beer for that fact, but the entire party we were with was having a great time!

After dinner, I was curious if there were any places in Shanghai that could embroider a dragon on some of my playing shirts.  Oh yes, I can’t forget to mention the shirts came from a good friend Koichiro Ueda, owner of TIGA Darts and Shade Clothing in Japan.   Thank you Koichiro!  It just happened that the owner of the restaurant also had an embroidery business.  He heard from Bookie that I was looking for a place to have a dragon embroidered on my shirts and offered to have my shirts done for me, wow!  I received them a few days later and I can’t tell you how beautiful the embroidery was.  Gold imperial dragons put on two of my shirts and they were hand embroidered!  What a true great piece of artwork to say the least.

Now it was time to drive back to Xu Hui District and meet up with Dave.  Hmmm, it seemed we had found ourselves at “Green Dragon” bar again!  You will start to see a common theme here with this place.  If you ever go to Shanghai and want to have a cold pint and some great fun playing darts or billiards, this is a definite place to visit.  So we concluded the evening at the “Green Dragon”, or should I say the morning again.  I think the bar will soon become the most famous in Shanghai, if not at least the most visited by darters coming in for the SIDO.

Monday, October 12^th – Day 3

Even more players were coming in today to include fellow writer and player, Paul Seigel “Dartoid”.  You’ll have to read his article about the tournament as well.  He’s a bit more seasoned as a writer than I and sure he will thoroughly describe his adventures in Shanghai with us a little better.

Our host Bookie continued to spoil us with the best local eating establishments around.  Food was not an issue during our stay in Shanghai!  You’ll just have to see some of the pictures I have, because it would be too hard and would not do the food justice if I were to try and describe everything.

Now we were scheduled for an evening at a brand new snooker and billiards hall that had just opened.  Dave Fatum and Paul Seigel accompanied us to this exhibition; little did they know they were going to be thrust into the promotion portion of it as well.  We walked upstairs to find a gorgeous billiard hall, adorned with dark wood, beautiful tables and about fifteen tables in all.  So you can imagine the size of the place needed for all those tables. 

Then at the other end of the hall, we saw a host….no a CROWD of people waiting for us to arrive.  There were three PUMA boards set up with surrounds and mats, a really nice set up to be honest.  The four of us looked at each other as we got closer to the crowd and noticed there wasn’t a bar!  If you haven’t done any exhibitions before, coming in totally cold after a huge dinner, with no warm up and a large crowd, tends to give you a little nervous feeling.  So we marched on and gave each other the big open eyed look, signifying we were all on board with “Oh Boy, here we go!” LOL!

The crowd was filled mostly with people who have not played or have little experience with darts and we were there as the ambassadors to promote the sport.  I can’t forget to mention the host of China sports magazine and newspaper reporters that were there as well.  Here the four of us were sitting in front next to the boards, with the crowd around us and out came the microphones.  It was actually quite nice; everyone got a chance to ask us questions about darts, ourselves and what the fascination with darts was.  This lasted for a good hour and we were all getting into it, with plenty of laughs and stories from all of us to the crowds about the “true in and outs” of darts.

After the question and answer portion we got to throw a few games against each other, meaning Dave, Chris and I.  Mr. Seigel somehow weaseled out of playing against us LOL!  We then helped give pointers to anyone who was interested and everyone from the crowd jumped up for their turn at the board.  It was definitely an awesome time with everyone.  The enthusiasm from everyone was incredible.  I have to say that darts in Shanghai or in China for that fact is going to explode.  I can foresee a future World Champion coming out of China someday.   Since my visit to Shanghai last year, they built a “Dart Training” center in the local middle school to instruct future players, with a full host of coaches and all!  There is another training center for the High School going to be built this year as well.  Now that is dedication to the sport!

The dart promo was concluding and I gave the owner of the snooker hall his chance to even the score on the tables.  We enjoyed a ton of games on the billiards table and good times continued to increase.  New friends + great times = Awesome memories!  This was truly one of the classiest and upscale snooker halls I have ever been to and look forward to returning next year.  Yes you guessed it, after the snooker hall…back to the “Green Dragon”!

Tuesday, October 13^th – Day 4

Today was an extra exciting day for Chris and me.  Today we were to meet the Xu Hui Middle School Dart students.  This was a special honor to meet all 12 of the students, their teachers and Coaches.  These students exemplified the meaning of passion for the sport.  Not only do they have their regular schedule of classes, but in addition they have darts practice sessions included in their curriculum!  Now you can understand why many people think that China will someday produce a World Champion in the PDC!  This was an exciting moment for us, but none of us was prepared for the type of interview or reception that we would have.

Chris, Erryn Donaldson (PUMA Rep) and I walked into the closed practice hall and were greeted by a host of students and media.  They had all the students sitting in their uniforms at the very front of the stage, where they had chairs set up for us.  Talk about being in the spotlight, wow!  We were positioned in the seats of honor and greeted by the Xu Hui School District Principal and teachers.

The stage lights were turned on and the media cameras started to roll.  Talk about speechless.  Who would have thought we would be treated like celebrities.  This is where the teachers expressed their gratitude for Chris and me writing letters of inspiration and encouragement to the students.  The letters are posted and framed in the Darts Training center.  They had the letters Chris and I wrote for everyone who would attend the tournament to see placed inside the SIDO program brochures.  That was absolutely unbelievable!  It is truly hard to put into words how grateful I was to be there, let alone how greatly everyone treated us!

The students and teachers presented Chris and me with a token of their appreciation.  They gave us a commemorative coin set of the Xu Hui Schools and a magnificent historical book.  After the gift presentation, we took the kids to the practice boards and watched each student throw.  We gave a critique of each individual student.  Three of the students were actually entered into the tournament, because they shot that well!  It is evident that the students take pride in learning not only school lessons, but the sport of darts.  The kids all took pictures with Chris and me and we signed their programs, shirts and dart cases.  Chris and I handed out a few small gifts to all the students and teachers as well.

Talk about being tired now!  The promotions and nightlife was starting to catch up to me, not as young as I used to be…LOL!  Plus I knew our other good buddies were coming in soon and I needed to rest up, as I would obviously be called to duty.  Gary Mawson was coming in today, with friends Marlese and her father Bernie.  Then John Part was coming in Wednesday morning, along with Koichiro Ueda.  Like I said earlier, it’s always a grand time with just Chris and me hanging out, but now we had the full entourage!  And of course, the common theme again for the evening the “Green Dragon”!  We couldn’t leave Gary, Marlese or Bernie missing out on a game of pool or two!

Wednesday, October 14^th – Day 5

Day five, oh yes the famous Shanghai dumpling day.  Bookie took all of us, including a bunch of friends from Hong Kong and Thailand, for baskets upon baskets of fresh made steamed dumplings!  At our table was Gary, Chris, Dave, Warren and myself.  Let’s just say I lost count after 10 baskets of dumplings, with each containing about twelve dumplings a piece.  Do the math; it was a bunch to say the least!  After the meal I was absolutely stuffed and the pace of going out every night and promotions was finally catching up to me!  Man, I don’t think I’m that old yet, but I’m sure not as young as I used to be and my body needed to rest a bit.

I went to take a nap back at the hotel around 2pm after lunch, while Chris, Dave, Gary, Paul and the rest of the gang went shopping.  Bookie was happy to see that I was going to take a break from all the PR work and give my body a rest.  I thought it was best for me since we had a very important day on Wednesday, meeting the officials from Beijing, the Olympic committee, Media, the opening ceremonies and bracket draws.  Busy busy busy!

Oh but wait, I get a knock on the door and here comes in Mr. John Part and the gang waking me up!  Chris comes rushing in and says, “Come on Robbie!  It’s 5 minutes to 7pm and we need to be down stairs for the official draw!!!! “I woke up with my heart pounding, not knowing we had to be downstairs, but they wanted the top 8 seeded players in attendance.  So with 5 minutes to shower, dress and hide the pillow sleep marks on my cheek, off we all went to the tournament hall.

Yes it gets better just wait!  We get downstairs and the place is packed with players and officials.  On stage they have the round robin brackets with all the seeded players’ names on it.  Then they have John, Gary, Dave, Chris, Paul and I sit right up front!  Oh my, the laughs were going now.  It gets better; I get called up by the Head Official to draw some names out!!!  I was totally not ready for this at all.  And my so called buddies down in the front row were no help at all.  They quietly reminded to show my good side, the one without the pillow sleep marks LOL!  What would I do without my good buddies to help me along!

After the official draw was done, do you think we could get some more rest?  I know I was rested, sleeping for a solid 5 hours and John and Gary weren’t tired yet so off we went.  Chris and Warren decided to stay in for the night, the festivities were catching up to them as well and it was their turn to recharge the batteries.

So off we went, John, Gary, Koichiro, Bernie and I went to my good friend Shoichi Ueyama’s bar – ZERO Bar!  Shoichi flew in from Japan to meet us and take us out to his bar, which is a very nice Japanese Soft Darts Bar.  There we indulged ourselves with a few bottles of Sake!  We couldn’t be rude, here was my good friend flying all the way to Shanghai and it just wouldn’t be right if we didn’t enjoy his establishment.  We also met a lot more of our friends from Japan, Hong Kong and Taipei.  We had a wonderful time, with John pairing up with another Japanese player and me the same.  We played doubles against each other using house darts, quite fun actually and the good times kept on coming.  We finally decided to shut it down and take tomorrow serious, since it was the very first day of round robins.  Thank you Shoichi for showing us a great time at the ZERO Bar!

Now reports of each day will get a wee bit shorter, since we were playing for most of the day.  Plus by now I’m sure everyone gets the picture that Shanghai is one great place to visit!

Thursday, October 15^th – Day 6.  1^st Round of round robins

Before we started the day off, we had a special meeting with all the Top 8 Men and Women players.  We all did a media and magazine interview, along with meeting the top government officials from Beijing, to include the Vice Chairperson of the China Olympic Committee!  During our talk, we were honored with a special gift, the mascot for the 2010 World Expo which will be held in Shanghai.  How cool is that!  The meeting lasted for about 1 hour and off we had to go, the tournament wasn’t going to wait for any of us.

Talk about starting promptly!  When they said the tournament will start at 11am, it meant 11am!  Officials were calling matches and a few people got second and third calls, almost forfeiting their first match.  Rules are rules and we love it when they are enforced.  It keeps the venue moving smoothly and doesn’t allow for people to lag around and draw things out.  Plus did I mention, the organizers arranged for all the players to have free beer and water during all three days of play!!!!

The round robins concluded with all of us maintaining one of the top 16 spots.  Here are the scores for the first day, I believe these were correct so don’t shoot me.  Oh yeah, forgot to let you know.  Each bracket had one seeded player for a total of 16 boards, with 8 players on each.

John Part 27 wins, Chris White 31 wins, Gary Mawson 30 wins, I had 28 wins, Warren Parry had 27 wins along with John Part and Dave Fatum had 25 wins.  After the first day’s round robin, everyone was starting to get settled in and adjusted to the time change.  It was a pretty mild night as well; I can’t quite recall if we may or may not have gone back out for wee pint or two, I know it was before midnight when we all came back LOL!

Friday, October 16^th – Day 7.   2^nd Round of round robins

The officials wanted to make sure everyone got enough sleep before the knock out round on Saturday, and the event started at 10am!  That was a bit aggressive LOL, but it started on time again at 10am, 9 darts to throw to warm up and off we went.  Ok, yes we all were up earlier and practicing in our hotel room at round 7am.  So we had plenty of prep time to get the arm fired up again.

The round robins went even better today for everyone and we all finished well in the rankings.  John Part had 33 wins, Gary Mawson 30, Chris White 29, Warren Parry and I finished with 30 wins and Dave Fatum I believe had 29 wins today.  So all in all, the rest and preparation showed with the day’s performance.

There were no shenanigans to be had tonight!  It was a going to be a big day tomorrow being the Knock Out round.  Ok, we went out under Erryn’s supervision, for a nice little relaxing time at Oscar’s bar.  A couple pints after a great dinner and off to bed we all went.  Yes it was early if you can believe it, 11pm curfew LOL!

Saturday, October 17 – Day 8.  Final Day - Knock Out Round!

Here it was, the Big Day!  This was what we were all here for.  The Men were playing for a $15,000 1^st Place Prize and the Women $5,000 for 1^st …Game on!

So everyone knows how the final draw was made for the knock out round, the Top 1 seed played the 64^th , 2^nd played the 63^rd and so on and so on.  The Philippine players were the top 3 seeds, then Chris White 4^th, Gary Mawson 5^th, I apologize but I can’t remember 6 or 7, John Part was 8^th, I was 10^th, Warren Parry 11^th and Dave Fatum 20^th seed. 

For the Women, Stacy Bromberg and Mayumi Ouchi were 1^st and 2^nd seeds, and that is how the finals ended up for them as well with Stacy coming out as the Champion and Mayumi Runner-Up.  CONGRATULATIONS!

Play started at 9:30am!  We all gave each other well wishes before heading into the room and now it was up to each one of us to do our best.   The format for the final day would be as follows:

1^st Round of 64 – Best of 9 legs

2^nd Round of 32 – Best of 11 legs

3^rd Round of 16’s – Best of 13 legs

4^th Quarter Final – Best of 15 legs

5^th Semi Final – Best of 17 legs

6^th and Finals Stage Match was best of 19 legs

To start the match you flipped a coin, winner corks (shoots the bullseye) first.  Winner of the cork started all odd numbered legs and the loser the even numbered legs.  Winner of the cork also starts the last leg, that is why it is crucial to get that all important start, if not you would have to break the throw to early to get the advantage.

My first round was to a local Shanghai Player, who I ended up beating with a score of 5-2.  My finishing was good, but I knew I had to step up my scoring as I continued on.  My second round was tougher as I played a very seasoned and former Scottish Open Champion, Rab Fotherington.  I knew Rab’s experience would make him a formidable opponent and would need to score well and get a jump start on him. 

Rab played well, coming out with great scoring with us alternating wins for the first 4 legs.  With the score at 3-2, I needed to kick it into 2^nd gear and press on.  I was able to break Rab’s throw and held it from that point on, finishing the match with a final score of 6-2. 

My next round wouldn’t be any easier, as all the top 16 players in this round were capable of beating each other.  I was up next in the round of 16’s against Robert Culapit.  Now scoring and finishing were going to have to be a critical factor and the match from this point on even more so. 

Robert and I wished each other well and the match was on.  It was the best of 13 now, a race to be the first one with 7 wins.  I had my chance early to break Robert’s throw and this would prove to be critical opening game as you will see.  I won the start and the scoring started off well for both of us.  I was sitting on 108 after 12 darts and Robert was on 65 after 12 darts.

I was up for the throw, my first dart landed in the triple 20, second dart was a nice setup inside the double, hitting a single 16, but my checkout dart ended up on the outside of the double 16.  That was going to be a crucial miss on my part.  Robert checked out the 65 for a nice first round 15 darter and I let the chance of striking first slip by.  But I had a lot more games to go, so not to worry just yet.

The second game Robert held his throw, with the score now 2-0 I needed to win.  The 3^rd leg started and I finished on a nice little 16 darter, only after Robert missed hitting a double bull finish for a 15 darter of his own.  Now 2-1 in, here’s where the chance to break your opponents throw comes in to play.  I had a chance to tie up the score 2-2, but two missed double 20’s would prove painful for me.  Robert won the leg and that miss by me gave him a little extra push as he dug deep.  Robert pulled together two nice legs back to back with a 13 darter to break my throw and then followed up with another 15 darter after that.

Now 4-1, I had to somehow reach down and stop Robert’s progress and get some more legs.  I needed to hold my throw and not make this become a total routing!  I thought things were going to change for me; a nice start with 140, 140, and 93 to leave 128 after 9 darts helped my confidence.  I checked out the game for a nice 12 dart game finally!  I thought things were surely going to turn around for me now at 4-2, but to Robert’s credit he held firm and a pressed on better than me.  Robert finished the next three games on a couple timely missed doubles on my part to beat me 7-2.  Congrats to Robert Culapit for a great performance.  That would be the end of my hopes of winning the SIDO with a Top 16 finish for me.  Well, off to cheer on my buddies!

Just as my game was ending, I caught the match a few boards down from me where two more good buddies of mine were playing each other.  Warren Parry and Gary Mawson squared off and it was Warren who ended up winning the match 7-1.  Big hats off to Warren, as both he and Gary are talented players, to win 7-1, some great dart must have been thrown!  So Gary finished in the last round of 16’s, with Warren pushing forward.

I ended up catching the very end of Dave Fatum and Chris White’s Top 16 match against each other.  It’s always unfortunate for friends to meet that early, 8’s or Semi Finals would be better but that’s the way it goes.  Chris won the last leg to edge out Dave with a 7-6 win and that would move him into the Quarter Finals, to take a spot alongside Warren Parry.

The Quarter Finals (Top 8), saw John Part against Celso, Chris White against Royden Lam (HK), Warren Parry against Christian Perez, and Lourence Ilagan against Robert Culapit.  Four separate countries were now being represented in the round, Canada, New Zealand, Hong Kong and a strong contingent from the Philippines.

This round would see players playing best of 15, a race to 8 wins.  John Part was able to hold off Celso for a nice 8-4 win.  Lourence Ilagan was able to fend of fellow Philippines player Robert Culapit 8-0.  Here’s where I was hoping my two great friends and fellow PUMA players Chris and Warren would come through and triumph in their matches.

Warren was up 5-2 against Christian Perez and Chris was up 6-1 against Royden Lam, then the break in the match came.  After 7 legs were played, the players were given a 5 minute bathroom break.  The break seemed to be an unlucky one for Chris and Warren.

After the break, Royden won another leg as did Chris.  Now the score was 7-2 and I was glad to see Chris appeared as if he would win at least 8-3 or 8-4 at worst and march on into the Semi Finals against John Part.  But the tide had changed and 7 wins was where Chris would be left at.  Royden pulled together 3, 13 dart games in a row WOW!  Now 7-5, I was still sure Chris could pull it through, but the momentum you could feel and hear was changing quickly.  There was a huge crowd now watching as Royden and Chris played.  It was a home town crowd as it seemed only Dave, Erryn and I were cheering for Chris.  Every big score and out shot Royden hit, the crowd was in a frenzy.  Chris still looked good on the line, holding his composure but the darts weren’t falling into the triple.  He wired enough of them; it was crazy not to see any of his darts catch a triple.  As it was, Royden rallied back to win the match 8-7 and Chris would see his bid to be the SIDO Champion end there.

The same turn of fortune Chris had earlier; found its way to creep up on Warren as well.  Warren was up 5-2 against Christian at the break and looking really confident and on form!  With Chris out and Warren now the sole PUMA player left, it was up to him now.  Warren played great all week and each day he seemed to get stronger and stronger.  With a great win against Gary earlier, I was sure Warren would be able to pull through.  The break came and Christian found a new purpose and started to pull legs away from Warren.  5-3, 5-4, 5-5, oh no now it was 6-5 Christian’s favor and that would be how the match would end up, with Christian winning the next 6 legs against Warren for a final score of 8-5.

    Now the Semi Finals were set – John Part vs. Royden Lam and Christian Perez vs. Lourence Ilagan.  The format was best of 19, with John Part and Christian Perez winning their matches and claiming their place in the finals.  The stage was set, John and Christian would fighting for the $15,000 1^st prize and the being named as the first SIDO Champion 2009.  The finals would be televised and broadcasted all through out China.  It was a grand setup, with a magnificent stage setup and banquet area for spectators to watch the finals.

Before I get in to how the finals went.  You have to appreciate the entire venue setup.  When we got there on first Saturday, they were just starting to build the stage and get the venue setup.  By the first day of play and the finals, everything couldn’t have been more beautiful. 

The banquet had an enormous buffet setup, adorned with gorgeous decorations and a huge 4’ tall horse statue carved entirely out of butter!  I couldn’t tell you how many delicious foods they had prepared, but I would conservatively say at least 25-30 different tastes of Eastern and Western foods, yummy I’m getting hungry all over again just writing about it! The players and special invited guests all had premium viewing seats of the stage.  Even if you were seated near the back of the banquet hall, you could easily see the match via one of the two huge 12’ movie screens on each side of the stage.

The banquet kicked off with the opening ceremony of dancers for entertainment.  Then the introduction of the finalist, John Part and Christian Perez were made.  I think I had the best seat in the house and a little nerve racking as well.  I was asked to be the Commentator for the final match.  I’ve scored thousands of matches in my time and consider myself a pretty good score keeper, but I had never been on stage in a suit with TV cameras!  Not only do you have to call the score, but you need to call out with a microphone so the crowd can hear.  Then I had to make sure I didn’t call out the wrong score, ensure the score keepers on stage wrote and subtracted the scores correctly, calling out game shots, all this without interrupting the players coming back up to the line!!!  Yes all the lights were very hot, try wearing a wool suit and have nerves going through you as well.  But there was no turning back, duty called!  See I knew I’d make it to the finals, LOL!

The finals kicked off and John’s experience as a player came shining through.  John took out numerous shots on the Double Bull and his finishing was fantastic!  At the break after the 7^th leg, John still had his sense of humor.  Asking me, “10 minute break Rob, so what do you want me to do? You’re the referee and all”, as he gave me a little chuckle.  Ha ha John!

After the break, the play resumed with John being up 5-2.  John didn’t look back and put it into high gear, winning the match 10-4.  Christian played extremely well, but it was John Part who would be holding up the 1^st place trophy and $15,000!

The closing ceremonies concluded with handing out trophy’s to all the Top 8 finishers and above.  They even had the Chinese Gold Medalist Olympic Women’s Diver there handing out awards, wow how great is that!  Well that ends the tournament and the short story, ok maybe not so short but there’s no way I was writing all of this on a two page blog!

Oh……wait a minute; it just can’t end like this can it?!  Ok, it doesn’t.  After the closing ceremonies, all of us, the whole tournament crew and all of our new friends went out for one last hurrah at the “Green Dragon”!  Great Times, celebrating one of the BEST if not THE BEST tournaments I have ever had the chance to be a part of!  This was truly a World Class Event.  See everyone again next year!  This time, plan ahead and I would like more and more friends and players to come, this way I don’t have to write so much and you can experience it firsthand yourself…LOL!