Issue 28 (July 8, 2016)

Friday 8 July 2016

Darts Weekly

“I don’t worry

about the others!”

Deta Hedman chats to us about her rise to the top P4-5

2

Friday 8 July 2016 Darts Weekly

Anderson completes hat-trick of World Series titles in 2016 with thrilling victory in Japan Gary Anderson secured a hat-trick of World Series of Darts titles with victory in the Zipang Casino Tokyo Darts Masters yesterday.

The reigning world champion had broken his World Series duck with victories in Dubai and Auckland this year, with an 8-6 defeat of Michael van Gerwen handing him the title at the Yoyogi Olympic Hall.

“It’s great to win here,” Anderson said. “I was really impressed with the Japanese guys this year, they’re getting better and better.

“The win gives me confidence, and I’m looking forward to going home to relax and prepare for Blackpool, which should be a cracking tournament.”

The world number one and two put on a thrilling show for the enthusiastic Japanese crowd, with both players averaging over 100 in a match that hinged on one vital break of throw in the 11th leg.

After the opening 10 legs of the final, which included a 161 checkout from Anderson, all went with throw, the key first break came in the next leg when the Scot

hit tops to move ahead of van Gerwen for the first time.

A hold of throw in the next leg put Anderson on the brink of victory at 7-5, before van Gerwen took the score to 7-6 and forced his opponent to throw for the match.

MVG would have two darts at double 16 to break back and force a decider, with Anderson checking out 108 on tops to claim an 8-6 win and his third World Series title in four events so far in 2016.

The Flying Scotsman had begun yesterday with an impressive 8-3 win over Raymond van Barneveld in the quarter-finals, where he averaged 103 and hit almost 60 per cent of his doubles.

Anderson then moved into the final with an 8-5 victory over Adrian Lewis, in a repeat of their finals in Auckland, and the World Championship, earlier this year.

On the other side of the draw, van Gerwen faced a tough test from Dave Chisnall in the quarterfinals yesterday.

Chizzy hit six doubles from eight attempts to lead 6-4, before MVG rallied with four straight legs to

squeeze into the last four, where he was a more comfortable 8-3 winner over James Wade, in a rematch of their Shanghai Darts Masters final last month.

The Dutchman hit over 60 per cent of his double attempts in the semi-finals, but was unable to repeat the success in the final.

“I had two chances to break his throw, but well played to Gary who was stronger” van Gerwen recalled.

“That 108 from Gary at the end was special, but I’ll get ready for the World Matchplay now because it’s been a long tour for us.”

In yesterday’s other two quarterfinals, Lewis overcame Peter Wright with a narrow 8-6 triumph.

The pair traded breaks throughout the match, but a 132 checkout on the bull from Jackpot swung the game in his favour, and he admitted: “That was a massive moment. I hit the 25 and didn’t fancy it at all, when the treble 19 went in I fancied it even less but I moved across and in it went!”

Reigning champion Phil Taylor lost 8-7 to Wade in the last eight.

Darts Weekly Friday 8 July 2016

3 PDC

x x x x x x xx x x x x x x x x

x x x x x x xx x x x x x x x x x x x x xx xx x x

Hat-trick hero: Gary Anderson won his third World Series of Darts title of the year after beating Michael van Gerwen 8-6 in the final of the Zipang Casino Tokyo Darts Masters yesterday

MVG to begin bid for second Matchplay with Caven clash Michael van Gerwen will play Jamie Caven as he begins his bid for consecutive BetVictor World Matchplay titles in Blackpool, with the tournament draw also pitting world champion Gary Anderson against debutant Alan Norris.

Van Gerwen beat James Wade 18-12 to win the Matchplay for the first time last year, and his title defence starts with a clash against world number 23 Caven.

Phil Taylor has enjoyed a remarkable run of success since the Matchplay’s introduction in 1994, triumphing 15 times at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens.

The 16-time world champion will

open his challenge against Robbie Green, who qualified on the final day on Sunday to book his first appearance in the Matchplay since 2004.

The only other previous Matchplay champion in the 32player field for the 2016 event, world number six Wade, will play Mervyn King in his first round tie at the Winter Gardens.

BetVictor World Matchplay draw M van Gerwen (1) v J Caven V van der Voort (16) v K Anderson R Thornton (8) v J Payne D Chisnall (9) v B van de Pas P Wright (5) v J Cullen I White (12) v D Gurney A Lewis (4) v M Webster K Huybrechts (13) v G Price G Anderson (2) v A Norris T Jenkins (15) v J Pipe M Smith (7) v S Whitlock J Klaasen (10) v S Beaton J Wade (6) v M King R van Barneveld (11) v B Dolan P Taylor (3) v R Green S Bunting (14) v M Suljovic

Chisnall claims first title in over a year with win in Barnsley Dave Chisnall picked up his first title on the PDC circuit in over a year with victory in Players Championship 10 on Saturday.

The world number nine, who had been beaten in five finals since winning a Players Championship event in May of last year, defeated Steve Beaton 6-2 in the final to claim the £10,000 prize.

Chisnall’s run to his 11th PDC title began with 6-2 triumphs over Jamie Robinson and Jonathan Worsley, before he was pushed all the way by John Henderson as he came through a 6-5 winner to progress to the last 16.

A whitewash 6-0 victory over Lee Evans kept Chizzy on course for the title, before wins against Kyle Anderson (6-3) and Andrew Gilding (6-0) put him into the final against Beaton, which he won 6-2.

White bounces back from first round exit to take the title Ian White bounced back from a first round exit on Saturday to win Players Championship 11 at the Barnsley Metrodome on Sunday.

The world number 12 had lost 65 to Cristo Reyes in the last 128 of Players Championship 10, but produced the perfect response to beat Joe Cullen in Sunday’s final.

It was White’s second PDC title of 2016, with the 45-year-old having whitewashed world number one Michael van Gerwen 6-0 in the final of Players Championship Five in April.

The Stoke ace saw off Steve McNally, Jeffrey de Zwaan and Jason Marriott for the loss of only four legs in the early rounds, before victories over Daryl Gurney, Ronny and Kim Huybrechts and Cullen (6-3) handed him the title.

4

Friday 8 July 2016 Darts Weekly

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

“I don’t really take time to think about how many titles I’ve won, I just go with the flow really!”

Deta Hedman chats to Alex Moss about winning 100 ranking titles, her favourite win and her future plans

arely two weeks have past since Deta Hedman wrote her name in the history books of this sport, but when we move on to discussing it, she could hardly be more grounded.

Victory in the England National Championship in Selsey last month took Hedman’s tally of ranking titles in the BDO to 100.

Since winning the Swiss and Finland Opens back in 1989, the 56-year-old has twice retired from the sport, and twice she has come back to continue playing.

It is a remarkable story which she hopes will have a fairy tale ending, lifting the World Championship crown at Lakeside, but before then the achievement of winning 100 ranking titles is on everyone’s lips.

“It’s not really sunk in yet,” the Jamaican-born thrower said. “I don’t really think about that, I just go with the flow really.

“I still just like to play for fun. I just like to travel about. I like going away and catching up with old friends and making new ones too.

“It’s nice to know people all over the world in case you need something, or you might want to go over there on holiday, you never know.”

Hedman’s long list of ranking title success, which now stands at 101 after she won the England Open shortly after the landmark 100th title, has won tournaments all around the world, but which one for her stands out the most?

“I think when I won my first Winmau World Masters,” she said.

“At the time they didn’t have a

“I go to work to pay the bills, darts is just a hobby and another part of my life really”

B

World Championship for the ladies, so the World Masters was the World Championship for us.

“When I won it in I think 1994 that really sticks in my mind, that’s the one I remember most.”

Hedman beat the then defending champion Mandy Solomonds 3-2 in the final at London’s Earls Court, before in 1997, ranked as the number one lady, she retired from darts due to work commitments.

A five-year sabbatical from the sport ended in 2002 when The Dark Destroyer joined the PDC circuit, where she created another slice of history.

At the 2005 UK Open, Hedman beat Aaron Turner 4-3 and Norman Fletcher 5-3, before losing 8-1 to Wayne Atwood in the last 64. It was the first time that a ladies darts player had beaten a male player in a televised major tournament.

Work commitments again forced Hedman to leave the sport again in 2007, but two years later she was able to return, this time to the BDO ladies circuit, which she has enjoyed great success in.

In fact, 73 of her 101 ranking titles in the BDO system have come since she made her latest return in 2009. And with the standard of the ladies game continuing to rise, Hedman is proud of her triumphs in the last seven years.

“For the ladies the game has come along, a long way,” the threetime World Championship finalist said. “Especially the consistency.

“To be fair back from when I was

Darts Weekly Friday 8 July 2016

5

x

FACT FILE x

x x x

“x x x x” playing before, the ladies that were playing were all good in patches.

“It’s the consistency. In fairness there are 16 ladies who are now very consistent and when you do the circuit they’re always there in the last 16, depending on how the seeding goes.

“I only ever worry about my game and hopefully the darts go, so I never worry about other people and what they’re doing.”

Although the major honours in the ladies game in 2016 have gone to Trina Gulliver and Lisa Ashton, who beat Hedman in the finals of the World Championship and World Trophy, the year so far has been dominated by the Oxfordshire county player.

Take a breath first, but Hedman has won the Isle of Man Classic, Masters of Waregem, Denmark Open, Denmark Masters, Welsh

History maker: Hedman won her 100th BDO ranking title last month Picture: David Gill Open, Polish Open, Police Masters, Swiss Open, England National Championship and England Open this year, as well as reaching the final of the Scottish Open, Isle of Man Open, German Masters, World Trophy, International Open and Gold Cup. Although Hedman is enjoying one of the most prolific years of her career, she has started to think about her options once she puts the darts away for good.

“Me and Paul (James) used to run a youth academy,” Hedman recalls. “The venue closed down and the kids have grown up a bit now, but we might go back into it and have a look, or I might go on the officials side with the EDO.”

Date of birth 14/11/1959 Laterality Right-handed Place of birth Jamaica Current ranking 1 Nickname The Dark Destroyer Walk-on music Hot Hot Hot by The Merrymen Playing honours Antwerp Open 2010, 2015; Australian Grand Masters 1994; Belgium Open 1996, 2009, 2011, 2015; British Classic 2010, 2012, 2014; British Open 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015; Centerparcs Masters 2009, 2011; Czech Open 2011, 2013; Denmark Masters 2014, 2016; Denmark Open 1994, 1995, 2014, 2016; Dutch Open 2010; England Classic 2010, 2012, 2013; England Masters 2010; England National Champs 2016; England Open 1996, 2013, 2016; Europe Cup Singles 1994; Finder Masters 2011; Finland Open 1989, 1991, 1992, 1996, 2010; French Open 2014; German Masters 2014, 2015; German Open 2011, 2012, 2013; Granite City Open 2012, 2013; HAL Masters 2015; HAL Open 2014; International Open 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015; Isle of Man Classic 2016; Isle of Man Open 2011; Luxembourg Open 2015; Masters of Wargem 2016; Mariflex Open 2010, 2012, 2013; Meuensterland Trophy 2014; Northern Ireland Open 2012, 2013, 2015; Norway Open 1992, 1994; Pacific Masters 1994; Police Masters 2013, 2015, 2016; Polish Open 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016; Scottish Classic 2015; Scottish Open 1995, 1997, 2012, 2013, 2015; Swedish Open 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995, 2010; Swiss Open 1989, 1991, 1992, 1996, 2012, 2016; Turkish Open 2009, 2015; Welsh Classic 2013; Welsh Open 2011, 2012, 2016; World Masters 1994, 2013 Best World Championship performance Runner-up (3x)

Darts Weekly Friday 8 July 2016

7

Duzza beats Hogan 6-3 to win maiden BDO Gold Cup crown Glen Durrant beat Paul Hogan 6-3 to win the BDO Gold Cup for the first time on Saturday.

The BDO number one, who was representing the county of Cleveland in the tournament, saw off the 2013 winner in the final to secure the £4,000 winner’s prize.

Durrant’s winning campaign started with whitewash 4-0 victories over Deian Roberts and Tony Andrews, before 4-1 triumphs against Alan Armstrong and Kelvin Hughes put the 45year-old into the quarter-finals.

Another 4-1 win, this time over Merseyside’s Robert Ward, saw Duzza progress to the semi-finals, where he took out checkouts of 164 and 100 to edge past Devon’s Ryan Searle 5-3 to advance to the final.

Berkshire’s Hogan kicked off his run to the final with hard-fought wins over Shaun Walshe (4-2) and Mark Blandford (4-3), before more comfortable victories against John Imrie (4-0), Andrew Rough (4-1) and Tim Jones (4-1) put him into the quarter-finals.

Hogan saw off the challenge of Yorkshire’s Dave Copley (4-1) in the last eight, with a 5-2 triumph over Middlesex’s Martin Lukeman

(5-2) setting up a final against Durrant.

It was Duzza who made the stronger start in the final, as after taking out 68 to hold throw, he found himself on a double to break the Hogan throw and go 2-0 up.

But after Durrant missed three darts to break, Hogan stepped in to hit double 10 to keep the final on throw at 1-1.

The next two legs were shared before Durrant reeled off three legs on the spin to go 5-2 up and on the brink of victory.

The recent England Open winner began leg six with six perfect darts before checking out 48 for an 11 darter to claim the first break of throw.

Hogan stopped the rot in the eighth leg with double 18 to cut the deficit to 5-3, but Durrant then held throw in the next leg to pick up his third BDO title of the year.

Anastasia Dobromyslova won the ladies BDO Gold Cup for the first time after beating number one Deta Hedman 5-2 in the final.

Representing the county of Cheshire, Dobromyslova breezed into the quarter-finals without dropping a leg, after beating Gina

Guest, Gaynor Williams and Julie Gore all by a 4-0 scoreline.

In the quarter-finals she dropped her first legs of the tournament in a 4-2 win over Tricia Wright, before the Russian whitewashed Claire Brookin 4-0.

Oxfordshire’s Hedman saw off Rhian Griffiths (4-3) to reach her 16th singles final of the season.

Database PDC INTERNATIONAL DARTS OPEN UK QUALIFIER (Barnsley) Final round - D Gurney 6-4 M Todd, J Wilson 6-1 S Dale, J Cullen 6-2 R Baxter, J Walker 6-0 M Edgar, A Hamilton 6-2 B Holmes, M Barnard 6-5 D Pallett, J Richardson 6-3 D Johnson, J Caven 6-2 A Parsons, K Anderson 6-2 C Loose, B Dolan 6-4 R Williams, A Boulton 6-3 M McGowan, K Painter 6-2 M Clark, R Green 6-3 S Brown, R Meikle 6-3 J Lewis, M Frost 6-1 N Aspinall, R Evans 6-3 W O’Connor, D Petersen 6-1 R Smith, C Dobey 6-0 K Brown, D Webster 6-2 S Kellett, S West 6-1 A Jenkins.

PDC EUROPEAN DARTS TROPHY UK QUALIFIER (Barnsley) Final round - D Gurney 6-4 A Parsons, M King 6-3 T Newell, J Cullen 6-1 M Frost, J Pipe 6-1 S Head, J Murnan 6-4 M Walsh,

R Edhouse 6-2 S Beaton, J Payne 6-5 R Harrington, J Caven 6-4 M Edgar, K Anderson 6-1 A Boulton, K Brown 6-5 B Dolan, S Stevenson 6-3 J Richardson, A Jenkins 6-4 A Hamilton, R Green 6-3 D Portela, J Lewis 6-3 T Temple, M Dennant 6-5 J Henderson, R Evans 6-5 D Johnson, D Petersen 6-0 S Kellett, A Smith 6-2 R Baxter, D Webster 6-1 A Monk, S West 6-3 N Aspinall.

PDC PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP 10 AND 11 (Barnsley) Event 10 semi finals - S Beaton 6-4 K Huybrechts, D Chisnall 6-0 A Gilding.

Final - D Chisnall 6-2 S Beaton.

Event 11 semi finals - I White 6-3 K Huybrechts, J Cullen 6-4 C Reyes. Final I White 6-3 J Cullen.

BDO GOLD CUP (Manchester)

Men’s final - G Durrant 6-3 P Hogan.

Ladies final - A Dobromyslova 5-2 D Hedman.

PDC ZIPANG CASINO TOKYO DARTS MASTERS (Tokyo, Japan) First round - G Anderson 6-1 S Asada, R van Barneveld 6-1 K Ono, A Lewis 6-1 T Zaharias, P Wright 6-0 C Fujimoro, M van Gerwen 6-3 M Chino, D Chisnall 6-1 S Inoue, J Wade 6-1 M Hiraga, P Taylor 6-2 H Muramatsu. Quarter finals - G Anderson 8-3 R van Barneveld, A Lewis 86 P Wright, M van Gerwen 8-6 D Chisnall, J Wade 8-7 P Taylor. Semi finals - G Anderson 8-5 A Lewis, M van Gerwen 8-3 J Wade. Final - G Anderson 8-6 M van Gerwen.

For any advertising enquiries email dartsweekly@gmail.com

8

Friday 8 July 2016 Darts Weekly

SEAN McCORMICK TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE DART

Qualification for Blackpool completes PDC renaissance for Green Robbie Green completed his darting renaissance at the weekend - bouncing back from a shaky start to his second stint in the PDC by qualifying for the BetVictor World Matchplay for the first time in 12 years.

Runs to the last 32 and the quarter-finals of the latest Players Championship events was enough to see Green leapfrog Austria’s Rowby-John Rodriguez into the final qualification spot on the Pro Tour Order of Merit.

And yesterday’s draw saw Kong given a dream opportunity to try and defeat the World Matchplay’s most successful player, as the Liverpool thrower was drawn to face 15-time champion Phil Taylor.

Yet it hasn’t always been plain sailing for the former World Masters runner-up since his return to the PDC circuit in 2015.

A former BDO World Championship semi-finalist, and well known for his power scoring, there was much excitement when Green decided to make the switch back to the PDC last year.

The popular school of thought was that when he played against the world’s best players on a regular basis, his game would reach new heights in tandem with the higher standard.

However, a crippling elbow injury hindered Green’s rise up the ranks in the first six months of his second tilt at the PDC. Green struggled for form, while Alan Norris, who also made the switch last year, quickly surged up the rankings. In the final stages of

x

last season Green’s elbow had recovered and he began to make waves on the circuit.

The former UK Open quarterfinalist reached two quarter-finals on the Pro Tour, as well as reaching the last 16 of the Grand Slam of Darts for the second successive year.

He then ended the year two wins away from qualifying for the World

‘All the signs suggest qualifying for the Matchplay won’t be a flash in the pan’ Championship at Alexandra Palace, losing out in the quarterfinals of the PDPA qualifier.

The 41-year-old continued his upturn in form this year, reaching two Pro Tour semi-finals in April to throw himself into contention for TV tournament qualification, before completing the job by picking up £3,250 last weekend in Barnsley.

All the signs suggest that qualifying for the World Matchplay

LAWRENCE LUSTIG/PDC

Blackpool bound: Green will be in this year’s Matchplay won’t be a flash in the pan for Green.

The world number 56 has qualified for the next three European Tour events, guaranteeing himself a further £3,000 towards his Pro Tour ranking, which puts him well in the mix to qualify for the World Grand Prix, European Championship and Players Championship Finals, while World Championship qualification is now practically assured.

It may have taken longer than he would have liked, but 2016 promises to be the year that Green’s PDC career takes off.

Green’s road back from adversity is one to be admired. The odds will be clearly stacked against him when he takes on the 16-time world champion at the Winter Gardens later this month.

But having defied the odds to reach the World Matchplay in the first place, you can ill afford to write him off.