Friday 22 April 2016
Darts Weekly
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Dobey aiming to keep up good form Pages 4-5 ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●
Going for gold? Darts one step closer to the Olympics Page 7
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Friday 22 April 2016 Darts Weekly
Taylor books place at O2 with win over bottom place Thorn Phil Taylor 7 Robert Thornton 2 Phil Taylor became the first player to book his place at next month’s Betway Premier League finals night after beating bottom place Robert Thornton in Bournemouth last night. The six-time Premier League champion, who missed out on the end of season play-offs last year, is
guaranteed to be at The O2 Arena in London on May 19, with his win over Thornton ensuring he will finish in the top four. Despite averaging a below par 89.61, the Power picked up the two points, with two three leg bursts helping him to a comfortable win. “I’m over the moon to be at The O2,” Taylor said. “It was the aim at the start of the season and it’s sent a message out to the rest.”
MVG picks up four points to close gap Adrian Lewis 5 Michael van Gerwen 7 Michael van Gerwen closed the gap on Premier League leader Phil Taylor to just two points, as he beat both Peter Wright and Adrian Lewis in Bournemouth last night. The world number one now just needs one point from his last three games to be assured of a place in the play-offs, having made a big step towards qualification with two victories at the Bournemouth International Centre. In the opening game of the night, MVG had just too much for Wright, winning with a 103.38 average in a comfortable 7-2 win. Van Gerwen won the opening two legs before Wright broke back with a 70 checkout in leg three, but
that would be as good as it got for the recent Coral UK Open finalist, as MVG won five of the next seven legs to run out a clear winner. The Dutchman returned on the stage to take on Lewis in a topsyturvy encounter between two former world champions. Van Gerwen hit two double tops for a 100 checkout to go 4-1 in front, before Lewis hit back with a brilliant 142 checkout getting him back on level terms at 4-4. Jackpot then spurned missed darts at doubles to continue his winning streak, with MVG taking the next two legs to go 6-4 up. The Dutchman missed four match darts to get the win in leg 11, but got the job done in the final leg. “Getting the four points was the most important thing,” he said.
Van Barneveld keeps play-off Raymond van Barneveld 7 Adrian Lewis 4 Raymond van Barneveld’s hopes of reaching the play-offs this season were given a boost after a 7-4 win over Adrian Lewis last night. The Dutchman is four points
adrift of Jackpot in the fourth and final play-off place, with the pair both having just three Premier League fixtures left before the finals night at The O2 Arena. After beating Robert Thornton last week in Belfast, Barney made it back-to-back wins for the first
time this season, with checkouts of 141 and 110 securing him a vital win over Lewis. The opening five legs all went with throw, before van Barneveld claimed a crucial break of throw in the sixth leg. Barney produced a 12 darter with
Darts Weekly Friday 22 April 2016
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Six match darts thrown away by Anderson in Wade draw Gary Anderson 6 James Wade 6 Gary Anderson squandered six match darts as James Wade came from 6-3 behind to snatch a share of the points in Bournemouth. In an exciting contest last night between the two former Premier League champions, it looked like the current holder Anderson was going to come out on top. An 81
checkout gave the Scot a 6-3 lead, but in the next leg the Flying Scotsman missed two darts at doubles to wrap up the victory. Wade stepped in to gain the first of two breaks needed to rescue a draw, with the second of those coming in the final leg after Anderson missed four more darts. “I’m really happy with the point,” Wade said. “I think the draw was about right.”
Taylor battles back to draw with MVG
hopes alive by beating Lewis a 180 setting up a 141 checkout, which he took out on his next visit to go 4-2 up. The Dutchman made it three legs in a throw with double eight securing him a hold of throw to make it 5-2, before the 2014 Premier League champion then
missed four darts to continue his good run in the eighth leg. Lewis came back to reduce the deficit to 5-3, but a 110 checkout soon regained van Barneveld’s three leg cushion at 6-3. Jackpot kept his hopes of gaining a point alive by holding throw in
leg 10, but the Dutchman wrapped up the victory in the next leg. “It’s a good two points,” van Barneveld said. “If I keep on winning matches then maybe I can still get into the top four but I’ve got to see how it goes from week to week.”
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Friday 22 April 2016 Darts Weekly
Dobey hoping for more than top 64 this year after getting to quarter-finals in Munich Alex Moss CHIEF DARTS WRITER It was a run to the last 32 of the Winmau World Masters two years ago which gave Chris Dobey the belief to enter the PDC’s Qualifying School, and it is fair to say he has not looked back since. A breakthrough run to the quarter-finals of the German Darts Masters last month has put Dobey’s name firmly on the map, with the Bedlington thrower narrowly beaten 6-5 by Michael van Gerwen to end his potentially career-defining weekend in the German capital. Now in his second year on the PDC tour, Dobey’s main aim is to get inside the top 64 before the end of the year to keep hold of his tour card. But if his recent results continue the 25-year-old could be destined for big things in the sport. “It didn’t come as a surprise,” Dobey said about his quarter-final appearance in Munich. “I know what I’m capable of. “It’s just nice to prove it to everyone what I’m capable of doing. I’m happy with the way it’s going at the minute, I’ve just got to keep doing what I’m doing. “(The German Darts Masters) was a massive weekend for me obviously. I didn’t expect the support I got but it was brilliant. “My confidence has gone up massively since the run in Germany, and hopefully there will be more of that to come.” After missing out on qualification for this year’s Coral UK Open, Dobey has certainly made up for it. A deciding leg defeat to Peter Wright brought an end to Dobey’s joint best ever run in a PDC event at the time, when he reached the last 16 of a Players Championship event. Three more last 16 appearances followed in the recent Players Championship triple header in Barnsley,
Barnsley, which came just two weeks after his heroics in Munich. In the space of four weeks Dobey has accrued nearly £10,000 in prize money, almost double what he picked up in his first year on the PDC tour in 2015, and has risen to 70th place in the Order of Merit. “I’m playing well,” he admitted. “My main aim was to keep my tour card in the second year, but I’m hoping for a bit more than the top 64 this year. “At the same time I don’t want to look too much into it. If I keep playing the way I am then hopefully I’ll get the right results. “I’ve loved every minute of it on the tour. I knew it was going to be hard and I’ve had to put more time in on the practise board. “I’ve been doing four or five hours a day while still working of course, so it is hard. But it’s
“I’ve been playing four or five hours a day so I can compete with the best” something I’ve got to do to compete with the best. “I work in traffic management, putting traffic signs and traffic cones out and closing roads if need be. It’s enjoyable but my long term aim is to play darts full time.” Dobey’s first taste of what life was like in the PDC came in 2014 when he won the Bedlington Rileys Amateur Qualifier to earn a place in the UK Open. A 5-4 defeat to Kevin Dowling in the first round brought his PDC debut to an abrupt end, but Dobey continued his progression in the sport in the World Masters in Hull later that year. “The thing that got me to go to QSchool was I had a good run in the Masters on the BDO scene,” he said. “I got to the televised stages and was eventually beaten by Alan Norris in the last 32. It gave me the x
kind of confidence I needed to go to Q-School.” On the second day of Q-School in 2015, Dobey lost out 5-3 to Andy Jenkins for a PDC tour card, but at the end of the four days received one due to his high placing on the Q-School Order of Merit. Dobey qualified for the UK Open and the European Darts Trophy in his first year on the PDC tour last year, before earning his television debut by beating Kim Huybrechts 6-5 in the final round of qualifying for the World Series of Darts Finals last November. It would be a losing debut in front of the TV cameras though, as Terry Jenkins edged past the youngster 6-5 to deny him a chance to play his manager Gary Anderson in the next round. The Flying Scotsman, along with Tommy Gilmour MBE, have managed Dobey since he came onto the PDC tour and have been a great help for the newcomer. “Gary’s known my dad a lot of years,” Dobey explained. “When I
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won my tour card he came up to me and had a few words to say. “He said ‘have a sit down with me and see if you want to take that chance, if not then it’s fine.’ “But after a few words I decided to sign the contract with Gary and Tommy, and obviously it takes the pressure off myself. “They’ve been a massive help. They guide me in the right way. “They don’t put any pressure on me and they’re always on the phone every few weeks to see how I’m doing. I’m always talking to Gary on the tour.” Dobey is fast making a name for himself on the tour, with victories over Premier League stars Robert Thornton and Dave Chisnall at the German Masters, followed by wins against James Wade and Steve Beaton in the latest Players Championship events. The wins against Thornton and Chisnall (both 6-4), saw Dobey finish with a 100+ three dart average, which he also replicated in the defeat to van Gerwen in the
Aiming high: Chris Dobey in action during last year’s World Series of Darts Finals in Scotland. PICTURE: PDC last eight to prove he can more than match it with the big boys. “It’s always good playing against those two (Thornton and Chisnall),” he said. “Playing against people like that week in week out brings you on massively. To get the win on the two Premier League players, my confidence is massive. “Against Michael I thought to myself when I was 5-4 up ‘one good leg wins me the match’ and to be honest I did nothing wrong. “You know what Michael is capable of and he did what he had to do to get over the winning line against me. “Averages obviously do mean a lot but the wins are more important. I was happy to get the 100 averages so hopefully I can keep going that way and there will be more of those games to come.”
The Dreammaker, Dimitri Van den Bergh, talks us through his darts memories First darts memory? My first darts memory is when I played on my first dartboard. First darts hero? My first darts hero was Darryl Fitton. First set of darts? The first set of darts I had were 22g Boxers. First darts team? The first team I played for was a team called Monty. First game on TV? It was against Ronnie Baxter in the first round of the German Darts Championship in Hildesheim in 2014. Away from the European Tour I made my debut on UK TV in the World Series of Darts Finals at the end of last year. First nine darter? I hit my first nine darter when I was 18-years-old. First professional tournament win? I beat Fallon Sherrock and Billy Longshaw to win the British Teenage Open in 2013, but my first tournament win in the PDC came in a Challenge Tour event in Crawley later that year. I played really well that day and beat some good players like Josh Payne, Ryan Harrington and Reece Robinson to win the tournament. Since then I’ve won some titles on the Development Tour and have also qualified for many more of the European Tour events, which helped me qualify for the World Championship last year, where I beat Ian White in the first round on my debut at Alexandra Palace.
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Friday 22 April 2016 Darts Weekly
Wesley Harms picked up his first BDO title of 2016 with victory in the Bull’s German Masters on Sunday. After tasting narrow final defeats to Darius Labanauskas (3-2) in the HAL Open and Danny Noppert (5-4) in the Four Nations, Harms was hoping for a change in fortunes when he reached the final of the German Masters. Sparky took on the popular Darryl Fitton in the final, who himself was looking to get back in the winners enclosure for the first time this year. In fact, Fitton’s last BDO title triumph was the German Open in 2014, and his wait for a next win continues after Harms edged out a 6-4 winner at Bochum’s Städtische Sporthalle at the weekend. Harms’ fellow Dutchman Danny Noppert continued his impressive season with victory in the German Open on Saturday. Noppert got the better of last month’s HAL Open winner Labanauskas 6-4 in the final to claim his fifth title of the year. It follows successes in the Den Haag Open, Scottish Open, Masters of Waregem and Four Nations, and puts Noppie in a strong positon to qualify for the BDO World Championship at Lakeside next year.
Nicholson calls for BDO to cut all ties with the De:Luxe Group Paul Nicholson has called for the BDO to cut all the ties they have with the De:Luxe Group following the latest setback, which saw a press conference cancelled at short notice last week. The BDO were set to announce a deal with a free to air broadcaster to screen live coverage of next
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De Graaf’s double delight Aileen de Graaf won both the Bull’s German Open and Masters women’s titles in Bochum at the weekend. The reigning World Masters champion claimed her first titles of 2016 with two tournament victories in Germany. De Graaf beat Russia’s Anastasia Dobromyslova 5-3 in the final of
the German Open on Saturday, a result which helped continue her recent good record against the three-time world champion. The 25-year-old has now beaten Dobromyslova in five of their six meetings so far this year. De Graaf then beat England’s Deta Hedman 5-1 to win the German Masters on Sunday.
month’s World Trophy in the UK last Thursday, but the conference was called off the day before. With rising suspicions that the De:Luxe Group are involved with the organising of the World Trophy, Nicholson believes the BDO should sever ties with the events company. “The fact that this company has come along and basically run amuck of their system when they had a little bit of real momentum going, it doesn’t feel right,” said Nicholson, speaking on the Let’s Talk Darts podcast yesterday. “I implore the BDO people to get
rid of this De:Luxe Group as soon as possible, do their own thing and just get in that office and fix this mess. “De:Luxe are going to run the BDO into the ground, and I don’t care who you are in the darting universe, nobody wants to see that right now. “There are players who have a home in the BDO. They have tournaments that they want to play in and there’s definitely room for both PDC and BDO right now.” Listen to the new Let’s Talk Darts podcast at: www.audioboom.com /channel/let-s-talk-darts
PICTURE: Bas van den Berk (www.dartfreakz.nl)
Harms regains his spark with victory in the German Masters
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Darts moves one step closer to Olympics after IOC agreement Will we ever see darts in the Olympics? The WDF (World Darts Federation) moved one step closer to Olympic compliance following a Memorandum of Understanding in Switzerland earlier this week. AIMS (Alliance of Independent Members of Recognized Sport), who have 23 sporting international federations as full members, including the WDF, signed an agreement with the IOC (International Olympic Committee) in Lausanne on Tuesday. The ceremony was witnessed by four vice presidents from the IOC, and IOC director general Christophe De Kepper, which is a testament of the importance of the signing. With the WDF being included in the umbrella group of AIMS, it means darts has made a significant step towards becoming an Olympic sport in the future. AIMS now have the right to be included in the Olympic Movement Directory, with the IOC now seen to be acknowledging the role and
leadership of the organisation, as well as its valuable contribution to support the Olympic Movement. AIMS supports and promotes the vision and mission of the Olympic
Movement by sustaining and developing sports, importantly through the education of youth through sport and to follow the applicable principles of the IOC.
Prins 3-4 L Winstanley. Semi finals - D Hedman 2-4 A Dobromyslova, A de Graaf 4-1 L Winstanley. Final - A Dobromyslova 3-5 A de Graaf.
Women’s singles quarter finals - D Hedman 4-1 P Jacklin, S Lowe 1-4 A Dobromyslova, A de Graaf 4-2 S Muller, S Prins 2-4 L Winstanley. Semi finals - D Hedman 4-1 A Dobromyslova, A de Graaf 4-2 L Winstanley. Final - D Hedman 1-5 A de Graaf.
Database BULL’S GERMAN OPEN (legs) (Städtische Sporthalle, Bochum) Men’s singles last 32 - M Adams 4-1 J Hendriks, C Hill 4-3 T Seibert, G de Vos 1-4 A Baetens, R Veenstra 4-1 D Blom, W Harms 4-0 J Sparidaans, T Becker 1-4 J Hurrell, D Noppert 4-1 M Baker, B Kirk 4-0 D van Klompenburg, S Waites 4-2 J Hendricks, G Clemens 3-4 B Suckley, M McGeeney 4-1 S Douglas, M Phillips 2-4 T Junghans, D van Baelen 1-4 D Venken, D Labanauskas 4-3 M Blandford, B Dawson 1-4 S Verdonck, D Fitton 4-1 M Blik. Last 16 - M Adams 4-2 C Hill, A Beatens 1-4 R Veenstra, W Harms 3-4 J Hurrell, D Noppert 4-3 B Kirk, S Waites 4-0 B Suckley, M McGeeney 3-4 T Junghans, D Venken 1-4 D Labanauskas, S Verdonck 4-3 D Fitton. Quarter finals - M Adams 5-1 R Veenstra, J Hurrell 4-5 D Noppert, S Waites 4-5 T Junghans, D Labanauskas 5-2 S Verdonck. Semi finals M Adams 3-5 D Noppert, T Junghans 4-5 D Labanauskas. Final - D Noppert 6-4 D Labanauskas. Women’s singles quarter finals - D Hedman 4-1 P Jacklin, J Larsen 0-4 A Dobromyslova, A de Graaf 4-2 R Brooks, S
BULL’S GERMAN MASTERS (legs) (Städtische Sporthalle, Bochum) Men’s singles last 32 - B Kirk 4-2 A Fordham, S Stainton 2-4 M Atkins, G Clemens 1-4 F Roosenbrand, D Clifford 4-3 R Gokoel, W Harms 4-3 J Sparidaans, R-J Rodriguez 4-3 J Hurrell, D Noppert 4-2 D van Baelen, J Williams 4-1 M Tagliapietra, D Carr 4-2 J Hendriks, D Vencken 1-4 D Bosch, G Vos 4-1 L Helsinghof, A Jensen 4-1 P van Gasse, D Vanhees 4-2 B Suckley, D Labanauskas 4-0 G van der Weerd, B Dawson 4-3 S Verdonck, D Fitton 4-1 K Burness. Last 16 - B Kirk 4-2 M Atkins, F Roosenbrand 2-4 D Clifford, W Harms 4-0 R-J Rodriguez, D Noppert 0-4 J Williams, D Carr 4-3 D Bosch, G Vos 4-1 A Jensen, D Vanhees 0-4 D Labanauskas, B Dawson 2-4 D Fitton. Quarter finals - B Kirk 5-1 D Clifford, W Harms 5-1 J Williams, D Carr 5-3 G Vos, D Labanauskas 2-5 D Fitton. Semi finals - B Kirk 4-5 W Harms, D Carr 1-5 D Fitton. Final - W Harms 6-4 D Fitton.
PDC BETWAY PREMIER LEAGUE (legs) (Bournemouth International Centre) Week 12 - M van Gerwen (103.38) 7-2 P Wright (98.30), R van Barneveld (93.09) 7-4 A Lewis (90.42), G Anderson (103.07) 6-6 J Wade (99.71), P Taylor (89.61) 7-2 R Thornton (93.61), A Lewis (92.98) 5-7 M van Gerwen (98.82).
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Friday 22 April 2016 Darts Weekly
RICKY WILLIAMS A DARTER’S DIARY
Time to put things right after missing last events Well it has certainly been an interesting month for myself. I was a bit stupid and I missed the deadline for the Players Championship triple header. It was a terrible mix up really. I was changing bank details as I had a new account, my sponsor never had the new account number and he was going on holiday. So I thought I would wait until he gets back and as soon as he got back it completely slipped my mind, and I was half an hour too late to enter myself in. I was inconsolable for about a week after, but it was one of those misunderstandings that I’m hoping won’t happen again. I’ve set every reminder on my phone and my girlfriend’s phone so I shouldn’t ever miss another deadline to enter the tournaments. I’ve had to make a laugh and a joke out of it, but I couldn’t even bring myself to look at the results from the weekend. I went out to Benidorm and had a week out there just after the Players Championship events were coming to an end. Me and my partner Paul Hogan, who plays on the BDO circuit, won the Benidorm Classic pairs. That was a nice little bonus and Paul won the singles as well. I didn’t do too well in the singles. I wasn’t too well the night before, I was up all night being sick. Then I woke up the following day and I was fine, so it was just one of those 24 hour bugs unfortunately. Me and Paul have played pairs before and won a couple of competitions, and he played really well. It was nice to get away from
that disappointment of missing the deadlines, and to be honest going to Benidorm was probably the reason I missed the deadline. I kept thinking about the holiday. I was originally flying from Manchester after the Players Championship events finished. I was trying to fit in work as well, and I know you’re meant to be professional, but it’s difficult juggling everything by yourself.
"You should never forget to enter a tournament but it’s one of those things” A lot of the top players just have to turn up to tournaments. They don’t have to worry about things like putting your entry in on time. But you should never forget to enter a tournament. You’ll be pleased to know I’ve entered myself in on time for next weekend in Barnsley. It’s a double header in the Players Championship and hopefully I can get some more x
money on the board. This next month is quite a big month for me now. I’ve been back to work quite regularly recently so practise has been limited, but I’m hoping after this week to get back on the board and put in the hours. In the last month I’ve seen a chiropractor because I’ve had a bad back and shoulders for a couple of years. There’s never really a good time to fit it in but obviously you’ve got to do it. It has affected me as I’m still in pain, but I’m hoping in a few months I’ll be playing darts without any pain for the first time in a long time. With the job I do, I’m a painter and decorator, you’re always using your shoulder. When you’re in pain you can’t practise for as long as you like and I’ve always said I play my better darts when I’m not working. But when you miss tournaments you’ve got to work to get money. I’m looking forward to getting back on the PDC tour next weekend and hopefully getting some results.