Intercity Prestige Cup
By Ike Jouhal
What a classic event held in La Rochelle, a city built in 1356 on the east coast of France. Over 10,000 people participated in this year’s Intercity Prestige Cup event and more than 10 countries were represented. A magnificient stage set up with huge monitors on both sides of the dartboard. A Medalist dartboard was the one used for all the finals and main events.
The U.S. team, consisting of Chris White, Scotty Burnett, Robert Heckman and John Husman, did a wonderful job representing us all.
It started with an International Doubles event with cash and trophies for winners. This was won by the team of Singapore consisting of Paul Lim and James. The 2nd place spot was taken by Scotty and Rob, and 3rd place by Chris and John. Two out of three not bad.
The next day was Sunday, the day for open international dream teams to participate, once again for cash and awards. USA had no trouble entering the finals to meet France, who made it to what we call The Pit, for the first time. Oh boy, did they start off with a bang, winning the first three out of seven. The smiles and nods of confidence in the audience were visible to all. Then came the comeback by the U.S. and they won the next three. Come the final game, France has a 130 out and the USA an 8 (double out). France goes up, bull, bull and… what everyone thought was a double 15, the stage lights came on with music and the crowd went nuts. I was stunned, sitting in the front row. I know I saw it hit a single. So did the referee and the computer screen. The lights and music were quickly reset, and there was pin drop silence as Scotty walked up to the throw line. Never have I witnessed such suspense and holding of crossed fingers and breath. All this was broken as soon as the dart hit the double 4 and I was thumping on the stage to create noise. Despair and then a show of clapping by all. The U.S. team pulled one out, and were aptly paid for their victory.
The next day was the Prestige Cup. It started of at 8am. The U.S. team was tired, yes tired, not because of throwing a lot of darts, but shots, partying and a complete lack of sleep. That was apparent when they lost their first match 6 to 1. They then decided to take a small power nap right there and then on the tables. It worked, and they qualified for the final eight knockout.
Belgium beat Morocco, U.S. beat Japan, Germany beat France and Spain beat Singapore.
In the Semi-Finals, Spain beat Germany and the U.S. beat Belgium, setting the stage for a repeat of last year’s finals.
I was lucky to be among those to witness the best players compete against each other. Spain’s players threw such perfect darts and got the better of the U.S. team once again to beat them 4-2. Both teams were applauded and cheered well.
The spirit of sportsmanship was excellent. Not a single incident of anger against one another was seen or displayed.
I just had no idea that soft tips were so big in Europe, and all matches were played with no handicap.
The U.S. team got a lot of respect and admiration from all. Requests for their autographs and signed shirts was impressive, more than any other team.
The U.S. team also gave me the honor of all wearing Cloud 9 shirts one evening in one of the hottest spots in town, and Scotty even wore it during the event.
Robert and Chris presented me with a set of their signature darts, the dragon and the white shark. Not to mention a U.S. team shirt signed by all four and in my size too.
Thank you Chris, Scotty, Robert and John for giving me and my two friends, Guru and Tom, who were kind enough to take time off and drive me to La Rochelle from London, to watch our team play, the utmost respect and love.
Thank you to Lee Peppard for all your support – it was nice to see you there also.
It was an enjoyable experience to watch the accuracy of darts being thrown and then to party in the evenings with the best of the best in the game.
