August 31st Didier, Gina and I were off to Calella, Spain for a week of sun, fun and of course... Darts :-)
After a 20-minute delay @ Zaventem we were finally on our way.
The warming-up was played in groups of 4. I was in a group with James van Lienden, Robin De Meulemeester and Jari Tuuanen. I didn't go through :-( Neither did Gina. Didier lost quarter final to Ronny Huybrechts. Ronny won the warming-up tournament. Go Belgium!
Didier lost the semi-final to Ronny Huybrechts; who also won the men's singles.
In the triple mix we made it to the finals after a bloody thriller against three Swedes. Noisy people, them Swedish folk, but we kicked their asses. :-D
We lost the final to Ronny, Kim and Dana, but still... We kicked some asses on the way to the finals. :-)
The Huybrechts brothers won the men's pairs.
I lost the quarter final to Laura Turner. Very good English player. She was runner-up in the ladies' single. Dana Verhaegen won.
Gina d'Hondt and I played pairs together and we made it all the way to the final. Since we played together for the first time I'd say we did pretty damn good. A close semi-final against Yasmina Vertommen and Katrina Pol which we won thanks to Gina who finished the deciding leg.
We lost the final to Anneke Houben and Kerstien de Vries. We did our best, but we had a streak of double trouble. :-/
The Belgians won 5 out of 6 finals. Thus I can safely say: Belgium ruled the 2012 Catalunyan Open in Calella!!!!
I also went to the 1st Catalunya Open 2012 in Barcelona. The venue was INSIDE the North station. (bus station). Multifunctional building since it also had a basketball and a tennis court. Very high temperatures inside and out though. Really need to remember to bring a big towel next time.
I had a bye in the first round and played my first game against Pepi. Serious language barrier as Pepi only spoke Catalan and I don't. Won 4-1.
2nd game was against Regina Merit. Won 4-0. This was already the quarter final. We had a 1 hour lunch break after which I played the semi-final against Laura Damon.Fairly tough game as Laura is strong on the 19. But I won 4-2.
The final was against Isi Chaporra. Not an easy opponent at all. Best of 9... But I kept my cool and won 5-3.
So yes... I am the winner of the 1st Catalunya Open 2012 Ladies Singles and with that I have also won a Winmau ticket for 2013. Damn happy and proud.