From the beginning Le Skratch's goal and passion was billiards. The Le Skratch team invested a lot of time and promoting billiards from the amateur to the professional level. In 1996 Sarantos Retsinas, one of the le Skratch team members, acquired a new passion, DARTS. With the help of his team members, Le Skratch diversified and began offering dart areas big enough to hold tournaments to satisfy the needs of the professional as well as the amateur player.
Sarantos Retsinas formed the Quebec Dart Player's Organization in 1997. Within the one year, the Q.D.P.O. attracted a respectable number of players. In its first year, Le Skratch and Q.D.P.O. offered its members several dart tournaments throughout the province. Il also held Q.D.P.O. dart championships throughout the province. The next step was to organize an annual event that would put Quebec Darts on the map.
Since 1999, the organization has putted annual darts classics. That year, Le Skratch and the Q.D.P.O. hosted one of the tour stops of the World Professional Dart Championships. The first annual world ranked Quebec Dart Player's Open was held at the Holiday Inn in Montreal, Quebec and paid out $25,000.00. In its first year, the event was a huge success, attracting players from across Canada, the U.S.A. and overseas. The next year, the second annual Quebec Dart Player's Open took place at the Renaissance du Parc, in Montreal, Quebec, which again paid out $25,000.00. It was even more successful, attracting players like John Lowe (6 time World Champion), Eric Bristow (6 time World Champion), John Part (defending Champion), Gerald Verrier (Top U.S.A. player), Dennis Priestly (5 time World Champion), Peter Manley (#1 in the World), Dennis Latimer (former Canadian Champion), Steve Brown (American Champion), and many more who battled it out to become the Quebec Dart Player's Open Champion. The winners were Peter Manley and Chrissy Howat.
Originally known as the Le Skratch Quebec Dart Player's Open, the tournament name has been renamed as the Sarantos Retsinas Memorial Dart Tournament, due to the untimely passing of Sarantos Retsinas. Le Skratch now promotes and continues the tournament in his name. Le Skratch also provides sponsorship to other dart tournaments throughtout Canada. |
