Darts: National Doubles competition-Magnan and Monthy dethrone then invincible pair |18 May 2005

Last Saturday at the Cascade community centre, Straight Arrows’ Magnan and Monthy triumphed over the same Berlouis and Morel in the National Doubles competition, stopping the Barclays Ami-darts duo from extending its own record to six consecutive wins.

It’s been a while since teams had been trying to topple the seemingly unstoppable duo of Berlouis and Morel who had successfully defended its Sahajanand Doubles title (three in three years) and Sacos Doubles crown (four in four years) earlier in the season.

Barclays Ami-dart’s Berlouis and Morel did not even reach the final as they were edged 3-2 at the semifinal stage by Monthy and Magnan.

The winning pair then needed five sets to make Maxime Esparon and Antonio Gomme accept defeat on a 4-1 score in the best-of-seven 701 final to write a new script in the history of doubles competitions here.

“We came close to achieving the feat in the Sacos Doubles but let slip the opportunity. We did it this time,” said Monthy, who has been playing darts for more than 20 years.

“I once played with Jude Monthy and beat them, but that was a long way back. Now that we have been able to knock them off the top spot, we hope to continue winning other doubles competitions as a pair,” added Magnan, who started his second spell as a darts player five years ago after a 15-year break.

A total of 15 teams divided into two pools of eight and seven participated in the one-day competition. After they had all played a one-game 701 match, the top four teams in each group qualified for the quarterfinals played on a best-of-three 701 format.

Eventual winners Monthy and Magnan eliminated the pair of Terrence Hallock and Keven Furneau (Straight Arrows) on a 2-0 score.

Losing finalists Esparon and Gomme of Challengers defeated the Barclays Ami-dart duo of Justin Hermitte and Patrick Radegonde 2-0 in the quarterfinals before whitewashing the pair of Reuben Port-Louis and Louis Leopold of Hurricanes 3-0 in the best-of-five 701 semifinals.
Port-Louis and Leopold could not stop the more experienced Berlouis and Morel from winning the best-of-five third place playoff match 3-1.

Losing the National Doubles title proves that Berlouis and Morel are beatable and it is very likely that other teams will try to make them surrender the other two crowns which are still in their possession. But they will have to wait until next year to do so.

It is to note that the National Doubles competition was the last doubles event on the Seychelles Darts Association’s calendar because the QB Doubles, which was last won by Berlouis and Morel in 2004, has been scrapped.

G. G.