JAPANESE ace Haruki Muramatsu won the second stage of the 2014 DARTSLIVE - THE WORLD Soft Darts World Championship in France, defeating Canada's Shaun Narain 3-2 in the final.
Muramatsu and Narain were amongst a host of players who travelled to La Rochelle for the event following their participation in the bwin World Cup of Darts, with the Japanese star going all the way to take victory.
Having overcome Croatian thrower Boris Krcmar in the event's quarter-finals, Muramatsu then defeated American ace Larry Butler, the 1994 World Matchplay winner who had teamed up with Darin Young at the World Cup of Darts a week earlier.
Muramatsu then edged past Canadian youngster Narain in the final, coming from 2-1 down to level before winning the decisive game of Cricket.
"I played well throughout the day and I feel great," said Muramatsu. "In the final I managed to throw good darts at the right time."
Narain's run to the final continues his emergence as a star on the international stage, having partnered John Part in his televised debut at the World Cup in the previous week.
Butler was joined by fellow American Ray Carver in reaching the last four, with another USA ace, Darin Young, joined in the quarter-finals by Krcmar, Singapore legend Paul Lim and Japan's Shunpei Noge.
The 2014 DARTSLIVE - THE WORLD Soft Darts World Championship is being held across five stages before the top eight players progress to a one-off SUPERDARTS event in early 2015.
British ace Adrian Gray won Stage One in Hong Kong earlier in 2014 - before reaching the last 16 of Stage Two in France - with further stages to be held in China on August 17, Japan on September 28 and in America on November 1.
For more details and entry information, please visit http://darts-theworld.com/en/schedule.
DARTSLIVE - THE WORLD
Soft Darts World Championship
Stage Two - June 15 2014
Parc de Expos, La Rochelle, France
Last 16: Adrian Gray, Antonio Alcinas, Scott Mackenzie, Park Hyun Chul, F Guillermont, Kei Usami, Diego Rufo, Michel Boulet
Quarter-Finalists: Boris Krcmar, Darin Young, Shunpei Noge, Paul Lim
Semi-Finalists: Ray Carver, Larry Butler
Runner-Up: Shaun Narain
Winner: Haruki Muramatsu
Final - Leg-By-Leg
Shaun Narain v Haruki Muramatsu
701/Cricket/Cricket/701/Choice. Alternate starts
0-0 - Narain wins the bull and throws first.
1-0 - In the first leg of 701, after 15 darts both players are left with 50 but Narain is first to check out. Averages are Narain 133.0, Muramatsu 141.50.
1-1 - A marathon game of Cricket ensues with 30 darts thrown each, but Muramatsu takes the leg after Narain misses hitting two single 18s for the game, and ends with 354 points and a 4.13 average to Narain's 331 points and 4.75 average.
2-1 - Narain wins the second leg of Cricket with a classy 6.0 average and 228 points to Muramatsu's 5.25 average and 211 points.
2-2 - Muramatsu levels the match, hitting three hat-tricks on the way and a 134 checkout of bull-bull-D17. Averages Muramatsu 141.8 to Narain's 135.67 with 220 left.
2-3 - Muramatsu wins the bull and decides to throw first, Narain chooses Cricket. Muramatsu fires in a nine mark on the 20s and after Narain can only hit two single 19s the match looks over. But mid-game Narain manages to claw back and Muramatsu misses crucial scoring darts at the 20s. With now all the numbers closed Muramatsu is on 272 points to Narain's 296 – the Japan player needs four bulls to win, which he does in style hitting two double bulls with his first two darts.
DARTSLIVE - THE WORLD Soft Darts World Championship
2014 Schedule
Stage One - Macau (April 5)
Stage Two - France (June 15)
Stage Three - China (August 17)
Stage Four - Japan (September 28)
Stage Five - USA (November 1)