In our twelfth episode of the Josh’s Dartistry Podcast, Josh Gorton is joined by regular co-hosts Jon Dean and Neil Conner, as well as guest host Jordan Harrison, who is one of just two men left in the JDP Last Man Standing competition.
Watch out Michael van Gerwen, we could have a new superstar in town, in the shape of 11-year old superstar Henry Coates.
Henry, a student at the Jamie Caven Darts Academy, was representing Derbyshire B in their Inter-Counties tie against Berkshire on Sunday afternoon, where he produced a magnificent display to whitewash Robert Bowers 3-0. Continue reading “11-year-old superstar fires in 82 average at Inter-Counties tournament!”
James Wade’s hopes of qualifying for this month’s European Championship were dashed after he was dismantled by Nathan Aspinall on an eventful opening day at the European Darts Trophy in Gottingen on Friday evening. Continue reading “European Darts Trophy: Day One Report!”
Jonny Clayton clinched his first PDC title with a spectacular 6-1 victory over former BDO number one James Wilson in the final Players Championship event of the year at the Barnsley Metrodome on Wednesday evening. Continue reading “Players Championship 22 Report!”
World number one Michael van Gerwen will face the legendary Steve Beaton in the first-round of the World Grand-Prix, whilst reigning champion Robert Thornton will begin the defence of his title against Stephen Bunting at the Citywest Hotel, Dublin, next week.
The draw for the 2016 World Grand-Prix, which begins on Sunday October 2nd, was made live on the PDC’s official Facebook page, ahead of the final day of Champions League of Darts action.
Van Gerwen will take on 1996 Lakeside world champion Steve Beaton in round-one. Beaton has enjoyed a mini-resurgence this year, reaching the quarter-finals of the recent World Matchplay. However, ‘The Green Machine’ will be hoping to clinch a third World Grand-Prix title.
Robert Thornton, who defeated Van Gerwen in a thrilling final last year, takes on another former Lakeside champion Stephen Bunting. ‘The Thorn’ has endured a slump in form since winning his second major title last year, but he’ll be hoping that a return to Irish soil will have a galvanising effect on his fortunes.
Phil Taylor will go in search of an unprecedented twelfth World Grand-Prix crown against debutant Steve West. West secured his spot for this event by virtue of reaching the final of Players Championship 16 in Barnsley last week, which saw Vincent van der Voort miss out on qualification. Continue reading “2016 World Grand Prix Draw!”
Kyle Anderson, Vincent van der Voort, Jamie Caven and Joe Cullen all made it through to the second-round of the European Darts Trophy, whilst Mervyn King, Robbie Green, Max Hopp and Jamie Lewis all suffered early exits at the RWE Arena in Muelheim on Friday.
Kyle Anderson produced one of the performances of the first-round, as he whitewashed Darren Webster to set up a second-round clash with International Darts Open finalist, Kim Huybrechts. ‘The Original’ was in fine form, averaging 95, landing three maximums and hitting 6 of his 11 attempts at a double.
Former European Tour winner Vincent van der Voort breezed into round-two with a convincing 6-1 win over home-favourite Max Hopp. The World-Youth champion was considerably below par; Vincent took full advantage, averaging 95.5 and hitting three 180’s, to set up an enthralling second-round clash with his compatriot Jelle Klaasen.
Jamie Caven and Devon Petersen overcame major scares, as they survived match darts to defeat Kevin Munch and Matthew Dennant respectively. Munch took out a fine 100 finish to force a last-leg decider, but he squandered darts for victory. Caven snatched the win with a brilliant 95 checkout, to set up a meeting with Dave Chisnall on Saturday.
Michael van Gerwen began the defence of his World Matchplay title with a thumping whitewash victory over Jamie Caven, whilst Dave Chisnall, Robert Thornton and Kyle Anderson all won through on the opening night at the Winter Gardens.
Van Gerwen was in magnificent form as he despatched Jamie Caven 10-0. Jabba didn’t perform anywhere near to his potential, averaging a miserly 79. He only had four attempts at double in the entire contest; all of which came in the second leg.
However, ‘The Green Machine’ was in merciless form. He averaged 105.85, hitting four maximums and converting 50% of his attempts at double. The world number one will face Kyle Anderson in the last 16, after ‘The Original’ eased past 16th seed Vincent van der Voort 10-4.
It was a relatively scrappy affair, with van der Voort averaging 89.99 compared to Anderson’s 92.34. The encounter was evenly poised at 5-4, as Van der Voort reeled off successive legs to close in on the Australian. However, Anderson won five straight legs to secure his first ever victory at the World Matchplay.
Michael van Gerwen will begin the defence of his World Matchplay title against Jamie Caven, whilst world champion Gary Anderson takes on former Lakeside world finalist Alan Norris, after the draw was made live on Sky Sports News on Thursday morning.
The prestigious 32-player event, televised by Sky Sports, will be held at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens from July 16-24. Van Gerwen, who defeated James Wade in last year’s final, is faced with a tough assignment against Caven, a winner of seven Pro Tour titles.
Arguably the tie of the round sees world champion Gary Anderson take on Alan Norris. Norris has been in tremendous form over the last twelve months, which saw him reach the quarter-finals of the PDC World Championship on debut. Anderson has never gone beyond the last four in Blackpool, and this promises to be a quick-fire contest.
Phil Taylor will begin his bid for an unprecedented 16th World Matchplay title against Robbie Green, who just managed to secure his spot on the final day of qualifying.’Kong’ is making his first Matchplay appearance since 2004, but Taylor will be hoping to win his eighth Blackpool title in just nine years.
James Richardson, Kyle Anderson, Jamie Caven, Wes Newton, Jonny Clayton, Steve West and Mark Frost all secured qualification for both the Austrian Darts Open and European Darts Open at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena on Friday evening. However, it was Richardson who stole the show, hitting a 9-darter in qualification for European Tour event six.
Richardson qualified for the Austrian Darts Open after thrashing Mickey Mansell 6-1, before edging past Jay Foreman and Joe Murnan.’Ruthless’ then recorded a magnificent 9-darter against Justin Pipe in the first-round of qualifying for European Tour six, beating ‘The Force’ 6-3, before easing past Arron Monk to secure a qualification double.
Kyle Anderson also enjoyed a fine qualification double in Coventry. Kyle qualified for the fifth European Tour event of 2016 with successive 6-4 victories against Ryan Palmer and Darren Johnson respectively.
‘The Original’ then confirmed his spot in July’s European Darts Open in Dusseldorf with comprehensive wins over Steve McNally and Mark Barilli, dropping just three legs over both encounters.
Continue reading “European Tour 5/6 Qualifiers: 9-dart Richardson steals the show!”
Daryl Gurney, Kevin Painter, Alan Norris, John Henderson, Joe Cullen and Joe Murnan enjoyed double-qualification success by sealing their spots in the Gibraltar Darts Trophy and European Darts Matchplay on Friday evening, whilst Phil Taylor only managed to seal his spot in Hamburg, after failing to secure a place in Gibraltar.
This qualification double-header took place at the Barnsley Metrodome ahead of this weekend’s opening Players Championship events. There were a host of big names vying to seal their spots in Gibraltar and Hamburg, and Taylor will be competing in his first European Tour event for 18 months having qualified for the European Darts Matchplay.
However, Taylor, a former Gibraltar Darts Trophy winner back in 2013, will not be able to repeat the feat this year, after he was defeated 6-4 in the final game of the opening night’s qualifier by Ross Smith.
Nevertheless, the 16-time world champion exacted revenge in the night’s second European Tour qualifier, edging out Smith 6-5 before whitewashing Lee Palfreyman 6-0 to seal his place in Germany.
Continue reading “European Tours 3-4: UK Qualifiers Report & Results”
Mensur Suljovic and Jamie Caven cruised through to the second round of the World Championships, whilst debutant Joe Murnan dumped out former World finalist Andy Hamilton in a gruelling battle, on Sunday afternoon at Alexandra Palace.
The performance of the afternoon was unquestionably produced by Suljovic, who averaged over 99 in defeating Jermaine Wattimena. The Austrian grew in confidence as the game progressed, winning 7 of the remaining 8 legs to secure his second-round spot.
Despite this, the first set was extremely hard-fought. Mensur struggled for fluency in the scoring department, and squandered four set darts in the fifth leg. Wattimena, despite busting 64 in the previous visit, returned to clinch the set.
Continue reading “Suljovic and Caven progress in style, as Murnan dumps out Hamilton.”
Phil Taylor and James Wade both suffered sensational first-round exits at the World Grand Prix in a night of shocks at the Citywest in Dublin.
11-time Grand Prix Champion Taylor was beaten at the first-round stage for the fourth time in his career, as Vincent van der Voort produced one of his finest television performances to record a straight-sets victory over ‘The Power’.
In addition, James Wade was sensationally dumped out by Mensur Suljovic. The former Grand Prix Champion was highly fancied to challenge for the title given his affinity with the tournament and his recent excellent form, but he was outplayed by ‘The Gentle’.
However, the headlines will inevitably go to van der Voort, who secured his first ranking victory over Taylor since 2009. Over such a short format, the top players are always vulnerable in the early rounds and the Dutchman was tremendous throughout.
Continue reading “Taylor and Wade suffer Shock First-Round Exits in Dublin!”
Andy Hamilton and David Pallett were the stars on an action-packed opening day of the European Darts Matchplay in Innsbruck. Hamilton averaged 104 in beating an impressive Dean Winstanley 6-3, whilst David Pallett hit six 180’s and averaged 100 in his 6-2 demolition of Jamie Caven.
Elsewhere, Raymond van Barneveld gained revenge on Max Hopp for his defeat in Muelheim last week; the 5 time World-Champ averaged 98 in beating the young German 6-3. There were also first-round wins for Rowby-John Rodriguez, Mickey Mansell, Alan Norris, Kevin Painter and Ronny Huybrechts.
Continue reading “Hamilton and Pallett star in Innsbruck as Barney Gains Revenge on Hopp!”
Michael van Gerwen continued his dominance on the European Tour in 2015, whitewashing Justin Pipe 6-0 to win the Dutch Darts Masters in Venray. Roared on by a boisterous home crowd, van Gerwen survived scares against both Mervyn King and Terry Jenkins to secure his fourth European Tour title of the year.
Continue reading “MvG continues European Tour Dominance in Venray!”
Raymond van Barneveld recorded a comprehensive 9-3 victory over defending UK Open Champion Adrian Lewis on day one in Minehead, whilst World Champion Gary Anderson, Michael Smith, Terry Jenkins and Simon Whitlock were also early casualties.