FOR the second consecutive year, Norman Madhoo of Guyana confirmed his status as the best darts player in the region when he defeated Barbadian Anthony Forde 4-2 in the final of the Carib Beer Caribbean and South American Masters at Solidarity House on Saturday night.
Madhoo will play once again in the Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship at Alexandria Palace in London which begins on December 17.
This is the biggest tournament in the world of darts and he will be competing against the best professionals in the world for a prize fund of one million pounds.
However, the prevailing mood at the event was noticeably subdued and sombre because of the death, the night before, of long-serving president of the Caribbean Darts Organisation, Trevor Lloyd, of the Cayman Islands.
After chalking up a game in the men’s singles on Friday night, Lloyd suddenly collapsed and although he received assistance immediately and then from the ambulance crew, he died in the ambulance after a massive heart attack.
Lloyd was a tireless worker for darts in the region and he will leave an admirable legacy, the crowning glory of which is the opportunity for a player from the region to play on the world’s biggest stage – the PDC World Championships in London.
That player in six weeks’ time will be Madhoo who played some scintillating darts to defeat Forde for the second year running.
The stylish Guyanese went through the early rounds largely untroubled but Forde was pushed all the way in an early round by Alexus King before he prevailed 3-2.
A sudden and unexpected result was the defeat of the No. 3 seed Sudesh Fitzgerald, the 2008 winner.
The Guyanese was edged out 3-2 by Barbadian Clyde Murrell. This gave rise to great expectations from the ranks of the Bajan supporters as five of their compatriots contested the quarter-finals. (PR)
