Issue 14 (April 1, 2016)

Friday 1 April 2016

Darts Weekly

PREMIER LEAGUE

Chisnall and Smith are out Pages 2-3 ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●

Exclusive Kirk wants shot at Lakeside before switch Pages 4-5

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Friday 1 April 2016 Darts Weekly

Taylor climbs to the top while eliminating debutant Smith Michael Smith 5 Phil Taylor 7 Phil Taylor moved to the top of the Betway Premier League as he came from 5-4 down to beat Michael Smith 7-5, and in the process eliminate Bully Boy from the tournament on Judgement Night.

The Premier League debutant needed to beat the Power to have a realistic chance of avoiding being

knocked out from the competition, and looked like he might pull off a victory when he went 5-4 up.

However, Taylor took out 84 for an 11 darter to level at 5-5, and after Smith missed a dart at tops to get at least a point, the Power checked out 80 to go 6-5 up.

A missed dart at the bull for a 130 by Smith then left the door open for Taylor to finish 124 on the same target to claim the win.

Thorn survives on Judgement Night Robert Thornton 4 Adrian Lewis 7 Robert Thornton completed the great escape as he ended Judgement Night out of the bottom two, despite losing 7-4 to Adrian Lewis in Cardiff.

After seeing elimination rivals Michael Smith and Dave Chisnall both lose, the Thorn already knew he was safe as he took to the stage at the Motorpoint Arena.

Lewis punished missed doubles from the Scot as he won his sixth game of the campaign to keep hold of fourth place in the table.

Jackpot gained a break in the third leg and Thornton was never able to return the favour, as the next seven legs were shared before the two-time world champion took

out 56 in the 11th leg to break again and win 7-4.

The Thorn ended up with 22.22% on the doubles and that proved costly as Lewis picked up the points in Cardiff and is only two points off from matching his tally from the whole of his Premier League campaign in 2015.

Thornton said: “I think I did the damage last week by getting the three points and the pressure was on Michael and Dave tonight.

“Once they had got beaten I could relax and enjoy my game because there was no pressure.

“My doubles didn’t go tonight but I’ll be back for the next few weeks and anything could happen now.

“I’m looking forward to the next six weeks and I’m not going to give in lightly.”

Wade wrestles a point out of James Wade 6 Gary Anderson 6 James Wade ended Gary Anderson’s six-match winning run in the Premier League as the pair drew in the opening game of Judgement Night in Cardiff last

night. The Machine raced into leads of 3-0 and 4-1, before the reigning world champion hit back by winning five of the next six legs to go 6-5 in front.

Anderson then missed a dart at tops to complete an unlikely 7-5 victory, with Wade checking out 62

to pick up a point from their clash at the Motorpoint Arena.

The Flying Scotsman missed 13 darts at doubles in the first five legs as Wade surged into a 4-1 lead, before the current Premier League champion fought back to set up a chance to win the game in

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Barney lets 6-3 lead slip as van Gerwen shares points again Raymond van Barneveld 6 Michael van Gerwen 6 Michael van Gerwen made it three draws in a row as he battled back from 6-3 behind to finish 6-6 with Raymond van Barneveld last night.

In a repeat of their thrilling William Hill World Championship last 16 clash at the end of last year, it appeared that Barney was going to get the better of the world

number one again, but van Gerwen won the final three legs to force a share of the points in Cardiff.

Van Barneveld crucially missed one match dart in the 11th leg to win 7-4, with MVG producing back-to-back 13 darters to rescue a point from the all-Dutch clash.

“It’s a point and I played well but I missed the double 16 for the win and it was crucial,” van Barneveld said after the draw.

Taylor battles back to draw with MVG

world champion Anderson the final leg of the match. But one missed dart proved costly as the Machine held his nerve in the decider, as both players shared the points for the first time this year.

“At the end of the day it’s a point but my doubles were atrocious early on,” Anderson admitted. “I

got back into the game, broke James to go 6-5 up and then had a shot for the win, but James took advantage of my missed doubles and fair play to him.”

Wade added: “It’s a point gained, but I believe it was also a point lost. I didn’t expect Gary to play

like he did early doors and I probably took my foot off the gas and let him get back into it.”

Elsewhere, Peter Wright got back to winning ways as he beat Dave Chisnall 7-5, with the result also confirming Chizzy’s elimination from the tournament.

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Friday 1 April 2016 Darts Weekly

Kirk is targeting a place at Lakeside next year after reaching first BDO final Alex Moss CHIEF DARTS WRITER Bradley Kirk is aiming to finish his first year on the full BDO circuit on a high by qualifying for the World Championship at Lakeside in 2017.

The Southampton-based thrower reached his first final in the BDO two weeks ago in the HAL Masters, and is hoping it will be the first of many finals he gets to as he bids to climb the rankings enough to secure a spot in the organisation’s flagship event in January.

“The main target is definitely trying to qualify for Lakeside,” Kirk said. “If I don’t do that then it’s not really worth me playing in it to be honest.

“If everything goes well I’m capable of doing it, it’s just whether it does or not.

“Getting to the final of the HAL Masters has given me a decent set of ranking points and it has moved me up to the top 70 odd I think, so I’m getting there.

“I think it’s the top 25 who get to Lakeside in the end on the seasonal tables and the season finishes at the beginning of October, so there’s still a long way to go.”

At the age of 21, Kirk has already enjoyed plenty of success on the darts circuit, with last year seeing him finish top of the PDC Unicorn Development Tour Order of Merit.

Kirk won two of the last four events on the tour, as he pipped the likes of Benito van de Pas, Dimitri Van den Bergh and Rowby-John Rodriguez to top spot and a two-year tour card on the PDC’s main circuit.

But his love of playing county darts for Hampshire, as well as his burning ambition to represent England still there, Kirk decided to turn the tour card down.

“I got offered a two-year PDC tour card for finishing top of the Development Tour,” he said. “I

ended up turning it down because I wanted to play in the BDO for a couple of years.

“After discussions with Jason (Thame, MODUS Darts) he thought it was the best idea to do that. I wasn’t experienced enough and I wanted to carry on playing for Hampshire, which would have been a problem.

“I wanted to play for my country as well, but later on in a few years I’ll be doing PDC if I can.

“Obviously it’s the stepping stone if you really want to make a career out of it. But at the moment I’m getting some experience and enjoying it first.”

For Kirk, playing on the BDO circuit has seen him play darts outside of the UK for the first time, and it is an experience which he plans to learn as much from in order to continue his progress in the sport.

“Travelling everywhere is something different,” he said. “It’s the first time I’ve been abroad for

"I turned down the PDC tour card as I wanted to play in the BDO for a few years” most of my life. I’m enjoying the darts and I’m enjoying the people around me, so it’s so far so good.

“It’s definitely an eye opener as to how other countries do it. You see the way some players play it’s just different to the way we play it.

“The Dutch players are obviously really good on their outshots and setting up shots and most players over here wouldn’t think of that.

“You’re learning the different things that they do and that can obviously help your own game.

“You can learn from anyone playing darts. They can do things differently and it might work for you or it might not.”

Having played mostly in local leagues and tournaments, Kirk

took the plunge and entered the PDC Development Tour for the first time last year, playing in almost all of the 16 events.

“I just wanted to give it a go and see how I compared to some of the other players,” he said.

“Obviously pretty much all the best youth players are playing there, so I just wanted to test myself against them.

“It went really well, winning it on the Order of Merit, but it was just seeing how I compared and seeing if I could do anything at a higher level, because I’d never really gone outside of Hampshire before then.”

Kirk is continuing to play on the Development Tour this year alongside playing on the BDO

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circuit, and hopes his second appearance in a final in 2016 will come sooner rather than later.

“I want to make amends for not playing particularly well in the HAL Masters final,” he said.

“It was my first time up there and I was quite tired at that point as well. It was quite a long day so it’s just a case of preparing for it a bit better next time.

“In the earlier rounds I was playing really well and then just slipped off a bit, so I was quite surprised to get through the semifinals because I didn’t play particularly well.

“Then in the final it was a quite a difference in playing on the stage in front of that many people, x

First final: Bradley Kirk on stage during the recent HAL Masters final in Venray PICTURE: Jelle van Wijk compared to when you play on the floor. It was enjoyable though and good to know I can do it.”

A busy 2016 schedule for Kirk continues with two trips to Germany later this month, with the Bulls German Open and Masters tournaments in Bochum on April 16-17 followed by the next four Development Tour events in Mulheim on April 23-24.

“My sponsors have given me the chance to do this for the next couple of years so a massive thank you to them,” Kirk said.

The two-time European Tour qualifier, Pete Dyos, talks us through his darts memories First darts memory?

That was Steve Beaton beating Richie Burnett to win the BDO World Championship in 1996.

First darts hero?

My first darts hero was Phil Taylor.

First set of darts?

They were a set of Unicorn 24g Phil Taylor darts.

First darts team?

The first team I played for was The Railway Club in Cricklewood.

First game on TV? I’ve not played on TV but I have played on the European Tour in Gibraltar in 2014 which was streamed live on the internet. I won my debut against Jason Lovett 6-3 and then lost 6-4 to Justin Pipe in the next round.

First nine darter?

My first nine darter happened when I was playing against Trevor Ellacott, an ex-Wales international and county legend. The last one I hit was against Brett Claydon.

First professional tournament win?

I’ve not won a professional tournament but my first win on the PDC Pro Tour was in 2013 when I beat James Hubbard 6-1 in the first round in Wigan. I’ve qualified for a few of the European Tour events on the PDC circuit, as well as the UK Open in 2014.

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Friday 1 April 2016 Darts Weekly

Noppert beats de Vos to claim second BDO title of the year Danny Noppert picked up his second title on the BDO circuit this year after winning the inaugural Napoleon Games Masters of Waregem on Sunday.

The young Dutchman defeated recent HAL Masters winner Geert de Vos 3-1 in the final to continue his impressive start to 2016.

Last month Noppert won the Scottish Open to claim his first BDO ranking title, with his weekend success in Belgium seeing him maintain his rise up the rankings within the organisation.

Noppert began his title-winning tournament with a 4-0 win over Patrick van der Weegen, before a 13 dart leg secured him a 4-1 triumph over Tony West.

A 4-1 win against Jody Waalboer was followed by a last 16 clash with David Debrael, which went all the way to a deciding leg.

The Dutch star came through 4-3 to book his place in the quarterfinals, where he enjoyed simpler progression with a 5-1 victory over Ilja Feldhaus.

Noppert then took care of recent HAL Open champion Darius Labanauskas 2-0 in sets in the semi-finals, before beating de Vos on the stage to lift the trophy and take home the €2,000 cheque.

The previous day Noppert had suffered an early exit while playing in the Top of Waregem, which was won by Latvia’s Madars Razma.

Razmataz scooped his first title

Lakeside date is set as BDO put out early diary for next year The 40th annual BDO World Championship is set to start on Saturday, January 7 next year after the BDO published an early draft of their 2017 diary this week.

Amid uncertainty regarding the

of the year after beating Dave Parletti 3-0 in Saturday’s final.

Razma’s route to the title began with a whitewash 4-0 win over Philip van Ginkel, before 4-1 triumphs against both Sven Carlier and Jimmy Hendriks sent the twotime Latvian National Champion into the last 16.

A hard-fought 4-2 win over Labanauskas continued Razma’s run, with a 5-2 victory against Shaun Carroll getting him into the last four in Belgium.

Razma eased to a straight sets 2-0 win over Roger Janssen to book his place in a final for the

More success: Danny Noppert won in Belgium on Sunday PICTURE: www.dartsfreakz.nl

television coverage for the BDO’s biggest event of the year, the organisation has published the dates for the tournament which will finish on Sunday, January 15.

With the BBC having decided against renewing their contract to screen the BDO’s World Championship, it is still not known whether the action at the Lakeside Country Club, in Frimley Green, will be seen on television in 2017.

In a recent interview with Darts Weekly, PDC chairman Barry

Hearn suggested it could be BT Sport, Channel Four or Eurosport which takes over the coverage, but there has been no announcement from those broadcasters so far.

The early version of the 2017 diary only goes up to September 24, hence the omission of the Winmau World Masters from the calendar at press.

A surprise inclusion on the diary is the Players Championship, which was set to be held last month but was cancelled.

first time since the Scottish Classic last June.

There he beat England’s Parletti 3-0 to take home the trophy and the €1,350 winner’s prize.

Elsewhere, Anastasia Dobromyslova won her first tournament of 2016 by beating Rachel Brooks 2-0 in the Top of Waregem Ladies final, while Deta Hedman saw off Aileen de Graaf by the same scoreline to win the Masters of Waregem title.

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Database PDC GERMAN DARTS MASTERS HOST NATION QUALIFIER (legs) Final round - T Seyler 6-4 M Esser, R Eidams 6-0 S Reusch, F Herz 6-2 F Gansen, M Puls 6-5 B Roith.

PDC GERMAN DARTS MASTERS (legs) (Ballhausforum, Munich) Last 48 - P Hudson 1-6 R Eidams, K Painter 6-1 S Kellett, A Norris 4-6 J Wattimena, C Dobey 6-1 B Davies, W O’Connor 6-3 T Seyler, D Gurney 6-3 D van den Bergh, J Cullen 6-1 M Zuydwijk, D Petersen 6-5 N Aspinall, D Johnson 4-6 J de Graaf, J Wilson 6-3 M Puls, M Walsh 62 T Junghans, R Huybrechts 6-2 J Michael, J Bowles 6-3 F Herz, A Gilding 1-6 J Richardson, S Bunting 6-4 S Beaton, C Reyes 6-2 M Barilli. Last 32 - M van Gerwen 6-3 R Eidams, J Pipe 5-6 K Painter, D Chisnall 6-4 J Wattimena, R Thornton 4-6 C Dobey, K Huybrechts 1-6 W O’Connor, G Anderson 6-1 D Gurney, J Wade 4-6 J Cullen, B van de Pas 6-2 D Petersen, M Smith 6-5 J de Graaf, M Suljovic 4-6 J Wilson, I White 6-2 M Walsh, J Klaasen 6-0 R Huybrechts, A Lewis 6-4 J Bowles, T Jenkins 2-6 J Richardson, P Wright 6-4 S Bunting, B Dolan 1-6 C Reyes. Last 16 - M van Gerwen 6-2 K Painter, D Chisnall 4-6 C Dobey, W O’Connor 2-6 G Anderson, J Cullen 6-5 B van de Pas, M Smith 6-4 J Wilson, I White 6-5 J Klaasen, A Lewis 3-6 J Richardson, P Wright 6-5 C Reyes.

Quarter finals - M van Gerwen 6-5 C Dobey, G Anderson 0-6 J Cullen, M Smith 6-4 I White, J Richardson 2-6 P Wright.

Semi finals - M van Gerwen 6-1 J Cullen, M Smith 4-6 P Wright. Final - M van Gerwen 6-4 P Wright.

PDC UNICORN DEVELOPMENT TOUR (legs) (Robin Park Tennis Centre, Wigan) Event One last 16 - R-J Rodriguez 4-0 A Dyer, A Smith-Neale 4-1 B Raman, A Kirk 4-1 B Holmes, K Brown 4-1 R Twell, C Beaumont 4-1 R Hayden, H Ward 4-3 R Griffin, A Hunt 4-3 B Kirk, C Loose 4-1 J Payne. Quarter finals - R-J Rodriguez 4-3 A Smith-Neale, A Kirk 4-1 K Brown, C Beaumont 4-3 H Ward, C Loose 4-3 A Hunt. Semi finals - R-J Rodriguez 4-2 A Kirk, C Loose 4-3 C Beaumont. Final - C Loose 4-0 R-J Rodriguez.

Event Two last 16 - K Brown 4-3 B Kirk, S Dale 4-1 K J Smith, S Lennon 4-1 D Carr, L Humphries 4-0 D Reynolds, N Kenny 4-1 T Lishman, K De Vries 4-1 R Colley, Hubbard 4-1 J Branton, K Parry 4-3 S Groen. Quarter finals - S Dale 4-3 K Brown, S Lennon 4-1 L Humphries, K De Vries 4-3 N Kenny, K Parry 4-0 J Hubbard.

Semi finals - S Lennon 4-2 S Dale, K Parry 4-3 K De Vries. Final - S Lennon 4-2 K Parry.

Here’s six-year-old Macey Mcknight, who lives in Hampshire and is pictured enjoying the current Premier League season on the TV. Send in your darts photos to dartsweekly@gmail.com Event Three last 16 - R De Vreede 4-3 A Kirk, R-J Rodriguez 4-1 D Key, L Devries 4-2 S Dale, A Hunt 4-2 C Loose, J Payne 4-2 B Kirk, J McCarthy 4-0 T Lishman, B van Peer 4-2 J Young, N Kenny 4-1 R Twell. Quarter finals - R-J Rodriguez 4-1 R De Vreede, L Devries 4-3 A Hunt, J Payne 4-1 J McCarthy, B van Peer 4-1 N Kenny. Semi finals - R-J Rodriguez 4-3 L Devries, J Payne 4-3 B van Peer. Final - J Payne 4-1 R-J Rodriguez.

Event Four last 16 - J Richardson 4-2 H Ward, N Kenny 4-0 D Willox, C Loose 4-2 R-J Rodriguez, D Reynolds 4-1 S Lennon, K De Vries 4-1 D Lidgett, M De Decker 4-2 R De Vreede, S Head 4-0 B Walsh, A Hunt 4-2 L Gallagher. Quarter finals - N Kenny 4-0 J Richardson, D Reynolds 4-0 C Loose, K De Vries 4-2 M De Decker, A Hunt 4-0 S Head. Semi finals - D Reynolds 4-2 N Kenny, A Hunt 4-1 K De Vries. Final - A Hunt 4-2 D Reynolds.

PDC BETWAY PREMIER LEAGUE (legs) (Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff) Week nine - J Wade 6-6 G Anderson, M Smith 5-7 P Taylor, D Chisnall 5-7 P Wright, R Thornton 4-7 A Lewis, R van Barneveld 6-6 M van Gerwen.

BDO NAPOLEON GAMES (legs/sets) (Jeugdcentrum, Waregem) Top of Waregem last 16 - D Vanhees 04 D Parletti, M Atkins 4-2 P Blackwell, B Dawson 4-2 C Van den Bergh, M Baker 3-4 G Vos, R Veugelers 3-4 S Carroll, M Razma 4-2 D Labanauskas, J Claeys 0-4 S

Verdonck, S Wens 1-4 R Janssen. Quarter finals - D Parletti 5-1 M Atkins, B Dawson 5-4 G Vos, S Carroll 2-5 M Razma, S Verdonck 2-5 R Janssen. Semi finals - D Parletti 2-1 B Dawson, M Razma 2-0 R Janssen. Final - D Parletti 0-3 M Razma.

Masters of Waregem last 16 - J Hughes 4-1 S Carroll, S Wens 3-4 J Hendriks, B Dawson 4-2 F Theeten, D Vanhees 2-4 G de Vos, R Janssen 4-3 S Verdonck, M Razma 3-4 D Labanauskas, D van der Zande 1-4 I Feldhaus, D Noppert 4-3 D Debrael.

Quarter finals - J Hughes 5-1 J Hendriks, B Dawson 1-5 G de Vos, R Janssen 1-5 D Labanauskas, I Feldhaus 1-5 D Noppert.

Semi finals - J Hughes 0-2 G de Vos, D Labanauskas 0-2 D Noppert. Final - G de Vos 1-3 D Noppert.

For any advertising enquiries please contact Ben Chambers on 01903 899942 or email ben@chambers.media

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Friday 1 April 2016 Darts Weekly

Van Gerwen fights back to win German Darts Masters crown Michael van Gerwen came from 4-2 down to beat Peter Wright 6-4 and retain his German Darts Masters crown in Munich tonight.

The world number one took on Snakebite in a repeat of their recent UK Open final, which van Gerwen won 11-4 in Minehead, and was looking to make it a perfect 10 of European Tour titles.

But Wright had other ideas as he stormed into leads of 3-1 and 4-2 in front of a sell-out crowd at the Ballhausforum to put him on the verge of his second tournament win of the season.

Van Gerwen took the first leg in 19 darts before the Scot won backto-back legs to go 2-1 in front, with the second of those legs a brilliant 92 checkout with two double 18s.

The colourful Scot then produced a crushing 158 checkout to move 31 up, with the next two legs also going with throw as Wright surged into a 4-2 advantage midway through the final.

However, van Gerwen then took the next four legs without reply to steal the title from Snakebite’s grasp, with the Dutchman finishing the 10th leg in 14 darts with a 70 checkout to complete a 6-4 win.

Earlier on in the night MVG had to work hard to see off up and coming star Chris Dobey 6-5 in a thrilling quarter-final clash.

Dobey, who was making his first appearance in a PDC quarter-final, looked to be heading for a famous

Mich

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To celebrate the first three months of Darts Weekly we’re giving away a signed World Championship programme to one of our subscribers!

The 2016 William Hill World Championship programme is signed by the two finalists from the tournament, Gary Anderson and Adrian Lewis, and will be sent to one lucky subscriber of our magazine.

To enter all you have to do is become a subscriber of Darts Weekly, which is FREE to do and can be done by simply sending an email to dartsweekly@gmail.com We will be closing entries for thexcompetition on Sunday, April 10 at 12PM UK time and the winner x will be announced the following week.x Good luck! x x

in Munich

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win when checkouts of 130 and 143 helped him towards a 5-4 lead.

But van Gerwen fought back as he checked out 111 to hold his throw in the 10th leg, and then won the decider with an 11 darter against the throw to end Dobey’s run in Munich.

In the semi-finals MVG eased past Joe Cullen 6-1, who only a few hours ago had whitewashed world

champion Gary Anderson 6-0 in the quarter-finals.

Wright’s path to the final saw him beat Adrian Lewis’ conqueror James Richardson 6-2 in the quarter-finals, before he edged past Michael Smith 6-4 to reach his fourth European Tour final.

Bully Boy had earlier come back from 3-0 down to beat Ian White in the quarter-finals.