No one could just match the mighty Philippines darters at the 2026 Cosmo Malaysia Open Darts Championships held in Kuala Lumpur recently.
The Filipinos arrived in KL with their A-game and won all the available main titles - Men's singles, women's singles events, and also the prized team title.
Current WDF World Cup women's champion Lovely Mae Orbeta was again the star of the show when she swept past all her rivals in grand style, winning the singles title.
And there has been no stopping her since. She has been bagging title after title after the World Cup feat and once again proved to be unbeatable at the Malaysian Open. For her tremendous effort, she took home RM2,000 top prize money.
Philippine had more to cheer when the runner-up was also a Filipina. Orbeta's close friend Janice Hinojales gave her best efforts, but it was not enough to upstage the world champion, and she had to settle for the silver medal and RM1,000 prize money.
Last year's runners-up Aileen Oclarit and Mongolian Amgalan Tsogtbayar were the losing semifinalists and were handed RM500 as prize money for their efforts.
Then came the Men's singles event, which saw the Filipino Christian De Los Reyes and Japan's Goto Tomoyo dominating the boards in the tournament. The final pitted both the Asian stars, but it was Los Reyes who prevailed to win the prestigious title.
Champion Los Reyes bagged the gold medal and RM5,000 top prize while Tomoyo had to settle for the silver medal and RM2,500 prize money.
Malaysian national player Norisyam Sebi had a good run but lost in the semi-finals and had to settle for the last-four position with Filipino Noel Malicdem. The duo received RM1,250 each for their efforts.
The Bullalo team, packed with national stars, were also very dominant in the top section, the men's team title. No teams in the competition could match their might as the Filipinos ran away with the title. For their efforts, team Bullalo from the Philippines bagged the top prize of RM10,000 for their efforts.
Malaysia's Dojo Blades, however, gave the local fans much to cheer despite losing the final with their brave performances. They bagged the runners-up spot with RM4,000 prize money.
The two semifinalists were also Malaysian teams - Darts Mekanix and Dojo Masters - and they took home the RM2,000 prize money for each team.
For the record, the top Malaysian darts competition is also a silver event category in the World Darts Federation (WDF) calendar. Apart from the local darters, other top darters from Singapore, Brunei, Thailand, Philippines, Japan, Mongolia, India and Hong Kong also took part in the competition.
This year's tournament has also been boosted after the organisers of the tournament announced that it will also feature RM56,500 in prize money.
Malaysia Darts Association president Nancy Ambrose said that the organisers will strive harder to make the tournament a big success this year.
"We are always aiming to make it even better every year with more teams and top dart players participating in the tournament," said Nancy.
"We also aim to make this tournament a top competition in the region in the future. But we are hoping for more sponsors next year as we aim to make the tournament a major show in the international calendar.
"I also like to thank Cosmo for their continued support in being our title sponsor," she added.'
Next year, the organisers are also aiming for more participation from darters across Asia and also hoping for entries from Australia and New Zealand.
