By MARK REY MONTEJO
Koronadal City’s Christian Perez and Cagayan de Oro’s Alexis Toylo will represent the country in the 2024 World Cup of Darts at Frankfurt’s Eissporthalle in Germany starting on June 27.
The pride of Marbel is hoping that his partnership with Toylo – one of the country’s rising stars – would yield positive results especially that Team PH will be up against elite teams, including defending champion Wales, in the four-day tournament offering €80,000 (roughly P5 million) to the grand winner.
A total of 40 teams are taking part in the event which a prize pool of €450,000 (P28.4 million).
Perez and Toylo are bracketed in Group A along with No. 5 seed Belgium and Singapore.
The top four seeds – England (1st), Wales (2nd), the Netherlands (3rd), and Scotland (4th) – will advance outright to the second round, while the 33 other squads will also be divided into 11 groups of three teams each.
Perez, 42, is determined to bounce back in the rich event after his poor showing in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) Players Championship 11th and 12th events where he suffered quick exits.
In last year’s edition – also at the same city – Perez and partner Lourence Ilagan made waves early before losing in the Round of 16 to Wright and Gary Anderson of Scotland, 8-5.
Before bowing out of the contest, the Philippines went undefeated in Group I highlighted by its stunning wins over 13th-seeded Czech Republic (4-1) and Singapore (4-1).
