/UCWE/ -  Johnnie Walker will sponsor the final Johnnie Walker Saigon Darts Grand Prix for the year 2005 on November 25th at the Saigon Town and Country Club in Ho Chi Minh City and on the following day the Saigon International Darts League will continue their traditional competition with the Hanoi International Darts League after a two year hiatus.

“The first day will be open to all comers,” says Tran Thai Dung, owner of Ice Blue Pub and one of the Saigon League’s team captains. “On the Saturday it is an open event for any interested darter to see who is the best darter on the day and also who can put together the best doubles team on the day. On the Sunday Hanoi will test their strength against us. I personally look forward to this. May the best team win!” Dung went on to invite all interested parties to his pub around eight o’clock on November 25th for the stump party.

“We are just thrilled to be able to play host to this competition,” said Matt Curtin, a sales representative for the Saigon Town and Country Club, “We are going to jump into this with both feet and insure that this event is truly special.”

“The Johnnie Walker sponsored competitons have been lots or fun and lots of work as well,” said Blaine Karst, an organizer of the event, “Johnnie Walker has done so much in the way of raising the profile of the sport in Vietnam. They keep taking us to the next level and their events have really shown us how far along we are coming along.”

This year is the first time that the Saigon vs. Hanoi competition included all comers on the first day though. “We felt that it was time to put these two events together so more people could participate,” Karst continued. “This format really worked for our league and our sponsor when the Singaporeans recently came up to play against Saigon.” Johnnie Walker began sponsoring the Saigon league during the year 2005.

The Saigon vs. Hanoi event traces its roots back to April of 2000 when Saigon first traveled to Hanoi to play at Hanoi’s invitation. Hanoi won the event 24-8, but in the last four meetings it has been all Saigon. “I don’t want to be pretentious,” said Gary Dale Cearley, “But there are only two players in Vietnam who have played on both the Hanoi and Saigon team and that is myself and 'Stone Cold' Pat Aston, but only I have the honor to have played on the winning team every time.”