By MARK REY MONTEJO
Christian Perez displayed feathery touch but faltered in a crucial stage of the Players Championship 4 final round of the Professional Dart Corporation (PDC) on Tuesday, Feb. 20, at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester, England.
Despite producing several great shots, the 42-year-old Perez lost to eventual winner Damon Heta of Australia in the semifinals, 7-2.
Perez was solid in the opening part of the match, winning the first leg and tying the match at 2-all.
But that proved to be his last gallant stand as the Australian darter won the next five matches to wrap up the series.
Despite the loss, the proud son of Koronadal City made heads turn after beating American Danny Lauby (6-5) in the Last 128, Germany’s Martin Schindler (6-3) in the Last 64 and Ricardo Pietreczko (6-1) in the Last 32.
He also claimed the scalps of former world champion Welsh Gerwyn Price (6-4) in the Last 16 and Dutch Raymond van Baneveld (6-2) in the quarterfinals.
Perez is the first-ever Filipino to earn a PDC Pro Tour card.
Along with partner Lourence Ilagan, they reached the Round of 16 of the MyDiesel Claim 2023 World Cup Darts (WCD) in Frankfurt, Germany last June.
He made his European debut last year in Hildesheim, Germany where he also made it to quarters of Event 13, beating world class darters in the likes of Rob Cross, Jamie Hughes, Luke Woodhouse and Karel Sedlacek.
