Issue 9 (February 26, 2016)

Friday 26 February 2016

Darts Weekly

123.40 Michael van Gerwen breaks the highest television average in 7-1 thrashing against Michael Smith Pages 2-3

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Friday 26 February 2016 Darts Weekly

Lewis continues fine start by edging tight clash with Wade Adrian Lewis 7 James Wade 5 Adrian Lewis made it three wins from his opening four Betway Premier League matches after coming from 5-3 down to beat James Wade last night.

Jackpot made a sluggish start to the opening clash in Aberdeen, missing five darts at doubles to take the first leg, before Wade

cashed in and then went 2-0 up.

It was Wade’s turn to miss the double in leg four as Lewis capitalised to level the game at 2-2.

In a topsy-turvy clash the next three legs were all won against the throw, with the last of those seeing Wade check out 120.

The 2009 Premier League winner took out 121 to go 5-3 up, before a 142 checkout in leg 10 inspired Jackpot to claim the victory.

Sweet homecoming for the Flying Scot Gary Anderson 7 Raymond van Barneveld 3 Gary Anderson got his Betway Premier League season up and running with a 7-3 victory over Raymond van Barneveld.

The Flying Scotsman had lost his opening two matches of the new season, but made a memorable return to Scotland by picking up his first points of the campaign.

A 103.34 average saw the world champion over the line, as he picked up five of the last six legs to beat van Barneveld.

Anderson made a flying start in front of his home crowd, with a 121 checkout on the bull handing him the first leg.

Missed doubles in leg three did not end up proving costly for the

defending Premier League champion, as Barney spurned an opportunity to break.

Another missed dart from the Dutchman enabled Anderson to hold throw again in leg five, which sparked the Scot’s run of legs to secure him the two points.

Anderson continued to fire in the 180s, hitting a maximum in legs five, six, seven and eight as he opened up a commanding 5-2 lead.

Van Barneveld stopped the rot with a 13 dart leg on throw, but two 13 darters from Anderson saw him to his maiden victory of the 2016 season.

“Turning up to Aberdeen with no points wasn’t good,” Anderson said. “I needed to get a point and to get two’s a bonus against Barney.”

MVG breaks television record Michael van Gerwen 7 Michael Smith 1 Michael van Gerwen set a new record three-dart average on television with a breath-taking 123.40 to beat Michael Smith 7-1.

The world number one passed

the previous record of 118.66, set

by Phil Taylor back in 2010, and was unplayable in front of a capacity crowd in Aberdeen.

Van Gerwen was in relentless form as he finished legs in 11, 12, 11, 12, 10 and 10 darts to establish a 6-0 lead against the Premier

League debutant last night. Bully Boy got a leg on the board with a 116 checkout in leg seven, after MVG had missed darts at double 18 to complete a whitewash.

But double 16 in the next leg secured the victory for the Dutchman, and with it the new

Darts Weekly Friday 26 February 2016

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Taylor moves into play-offs with close win over Chisnall Phil Taylor 7 Dave Chisnall 5 Phil Taylor climbed into the Premier League play-offs with a brilliant 115.25 average helping him beat Dave Chisnall 7-5.

On a night which saw Michael van Gerwen break his record for the highest televised average, the Power sent out a message with the 11th highest televised average to

make it three wins in a row in the Premier League.

Taylor took the first leg on double 16 before Chizzy hit back with consecutive 11 darters to take a 3-1 lead.

The Power responded though with back-to-back legs to level at three all, and after the next four legs were shared, the six-time Premier League winner won the next two to take the points.

average in stunning display best-ever average seen on a television screen.

“It’s fantastic,” van Gerwen said.

“I’m always thinking about 110, 115 averages but not 123!

“I felt confident straight away and I played well from the start, so I’m happy with my performance

and it was an amazing game. When I was 6-0 up I realised I could make some records and I missed a couple of doubles.

“If you play like this it’s amazing and I’m really glad it came out tonight. I hope I can do this many more times in the future.”

Next up for van Gerwen is a clash with Premier League leader Peter Wright in Exeter next week.

Snakebite remains top of the pile after battling back from 6-4 down to rescue a point against fellow Scot Robert Thornton in the final game of the night.

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Friday 26 February 2016 Darts Weekly

Parletti shocked at first call up to the England squad as his rise in the BDO continues Alex Moss CHIEF DARTS WRITER Dave Parletti admits his call up to the England squad for the BDO British Internationals in April came as a bit of a shock.

The Londoner was selected as one of the 12 men in the England team to face Scotland and Wales on April 8-10, with his unbeaten record this season for Surrey earning him his place in the team.

And ahead of making his debut for his country at Glenrothes in Fife in six weeks, Parletti shared his delight at achieving one of his big targets in the sport.

“It was a bit of a shock to be honest,” he said. “Last year when I was at Selsey I was talking to some fella out there, and he asked me what I wanted to do in darts.

“I said I didn’t really know. I just wanted to take my time and hopefully one day play for England, and then get to Lakeside and progress that way.

“I’ve got a few mates who did QSchool and he just said to me to keep playing my Super League games and keep playing my county games and to keep doing well.

“I’m third in the county rankings at the moment so I knew I was doing alright. But obviously there’s the names like Scott Waites and Daryl Fitton who aren’t as high in the county rankings.

“When I did get called up I was shocked. I’m looking forward to it, the first time playing on the big stage outside of county, with the TV cameras. I’m buzzing actually.”

In his second season playing for Surrey, Parletti has won all six of his games so far for the Division One side, who currently sit eighth in the table.

Following the latest round of fixtures earlier this month, only Cleveland’s Glen Durrant and Fife’s Jamie Clark are higher than Parletti in the Men’s A averages. It

has certainly been a county season to remember for last year’s England Masters semi finalist.

“The selection process is to do with Super League and county,” he said. “If you do well in those then that’s when you get noticed.

“You play nine games a season for your county and I’m six out of six so far. I only stated playing Super League a year and a half or two years ago, and then I got selected for county and have played 11 games for Surrey now.”

With his England debut all set, Parletti’s next ambition is to qualify for Lakeside and the BDO World Championship in January next year.

The iconic Lakeside Country Club is a venue which he is no stranger to though, having visited the Frimley Green venue while growing up.

“I used to go to Lakeside when I was a kid,” Parletti explains. “I’ve always been a darts fan.

“When I was 16 and 17 none of my mates were into darts. We’d go

"All the greats have played for England and that has always been my goal” out and be lads, so it wasn’t until I was about 27 when a fella at work asked me if I wanted to play and join his team.

“So five years I’ve been playing in the pub and I’ve gone up in the leagues. The next step is obviously England and now I’m going in the right direction.

“I’ve just got to take my time and enjoy it. The main goal was always to play for England. All the greats have played for England and to play for your country is a very good thing to achieve.”

Before Parletti joins up with the England squad in April he will first turn his attention to the other side of the darting divide. After coming

through a tough field of players at the Rileys Amateur Qualifier in Twickenham last month, the England international has qualified again for the Coral UK Open in Minehead next weekend.

Parletti lost out in the last 128 of the PDC tournament after entering as a Rileys Amateur Qualifier last year, and will begin his campaign this time against Josh Payne at the same stage next Friday afternoon.

“I qualified last year but there was only 30 odd people there at the qualifier,” he said. “This year there was a stronger field, with a few older professionals like Alex Roy, Lionel Sams and John Scott, so I had my work cut out.

“The UK Open will be good. I’m hoping to get through a couple of rounds, and you never know I might be the guy who gets spanked 9-0 by Michael van Gerwen!”

Talk of a potential switch to the

Darts Weekly Friday 26 February 2016

5 Climbing the ladder: Dave Parletti has already enjoyed success since picking up darts again five years ago PICTURE: Contributed

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PDC is far from Parletti’s mind right now, with the postman aiming to continue his rise up the BDO rankings during 2016.

“Right now at the moment I want to play in the BDO,” he said. “I want to establish myself and get used to playing on TV. “The PDC is a long way off. To play in the PDC it’s your job and if you’re a professional dart player you’re earning money for your family.

“I’m not playing in the BDO for the money, I’m playing because I enjoy my darts.

“I’ve got a job as a postman, I’ve got two kids and a wife and I’ve got to provide for them. She lets me go out 3-4 times a week and then two weekends a month.

“I’m doing it to get somewhere, and there’s a few things I want to tweak in my game first and then I think good things will happen. I’m

going to do the BDO calendar this year as the aim is to get to Lakeside at the end of the year.

“Last year I didn’t do it so I’m going to try and kick on now and see what happens. That’s the goal to get to Lakeside.

“I’m convinced in my head if I got to Lakeside I would win it. That

"I’m not playing in the BDO for money, I’m playing because I enjoy my darts” might sound a bit arrogant but I’m just playing really well at the moment. I’m sure every player thinks that, but that’s the goal.”

Parletti picked up some impressive results at the Scottish Open two weeks ago, reaching the quarter finals before bowing out to eventual winner Danny Noppert.

The run to the last eight included a 4-0 win over three-time Lakeside champion Martin Adams in the last 32, and adds to notable victories over another former world champion, Scott Mitchell, last year.

“Last year I beat Scott Mitchell twice as well as Gary Robson, Pip Blackwell and Wesley Harms,” he said. “This time I beat Martin Atkins, Martin Adams and Tony O’Shea, who are all established pros and I didn’t get fazed by any of them because I was playing the board and not the player.

“I’ve got mates who do that and tell me they’ve just played Michael van Gerwen and got spanked 6-0.

“You go into the game thinking you’re going to lose 6-0, whereas in my heart I want to ask them for an autograph because I’m a darts fan.

“But when you’re playing its serious and you have to have that mind set where they’re not your heroes. They’re your enemies for the 10 minutes you’re playing.”

England squad for the 37th British Internationals Men Scott Mitchell (Dorset) Martin Adams (Cambridgeshire) Shaun Carroll (West Midlands) Brian Dawson (Yorkshire) Glen Durrant (Cleveland) Dennis Harbour (Cambridgeshire) Paul Hogan (Berkshire) Jamie Hughes (Warwickshire) James Hurrell (Worcestershire) Mark McGeeney (Lancashire) Dave Parletti (Surrey) Darren Peetom (Essex) Ladies Deta Hedman (Oxfordshire) Lisa Ashton (Lancashire) Trina Gulliver (Warwickshire) Gemma Hayter (Hampshire) Fallon Sherrock (Buckinghamshire) Lorraine Winstanley (Yorkshire)

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Friday 26 February 2016 Darts Weekly

Festival of Darts hangs in the balance with four weeks to go With just four weeks to go before its scheduled start date, the BDO’s Festival of Darts looks set to be another failed event by tournament organisers De:Luxe.

Billed as the second ‘new era’ event on the BDO calendar in 2016, the Festival of Darts is due to take place at the Rainton Meadows Arena in Durham next month.

However, darts fans are still none the wiser as to whether the event will actually be going ahead with there still yet to be any ticket information released.

Players are also very much in the dark as no official word on who has qualified for the tournament has been given, with rumours of it being the top 16 joined by 16 qualifiers yet to be confirmed.

Fears of the Festival of Darts ending up as the same fate as the Players Championship event increase with every day and week that goes past with no further information being revealed.

Today was supposed to mark the start of the ‘new era’ for the BDO, with De:Luxe hosting the Players Championship at the Old Billingsgate (pictured) in London.

The top 20 in the BDO rankings, including world champion Scott Waites, Martin Adams, Scott Mitchell and Glen Durrant were set to be joined by four wildcards, Ted Hankey, Jeff Smith, Andy Fordham and Tony O’Shea to make up a 24-man line-up for the men’s competition.

The ladies event included the top eight in the rankings as well as four wildcards, with all the players being split into groups of three, and over today and tomorrow they would compete in group matches to determine who qualified for the knockout stage on the Sunday.

A total prize fund of £50,000 was up for grabs, with £10,000 going to the winner of the men’s event and £5,000 to the ladies’ winner.

However, with only three weeks

of set six, before Anderson reeled off three straight legs to level the match once again.

Jackpot's jittery finishing in the seventh set proved costly as the defending champion moved into a 4-3 lead, and another whitewash set then gave Anderson a two-set cushion for the first time.

Lewis fought back in set nine, with a 121 checkout securing him the set in consecutive legs.

But Anderson then returned the favour in the 10th set to move to within one set of victory.

Jackpot would not give up and responded by taking the 11th set 3-0 to close the gap back to one

Vincent van der Voort on Tuesday night, and has set up an intriguing quarter-final clash with James Wade this afternoon.

The Machine has also only lost one set so far in the competition, despite having yet to show his best darts in wins over John Michael, Wes Newton and Jamie Caven.

With Wade yet to get over the semi-final hurdle at the World Championship, and with either Norris or Klaasen awaiting the winner tomorrow night, you feel that this is a big game for him.

Although Anderson has the far superior record against Wade, with

to go before the event was due to take place, a statement on the BDO’s website from chairman Sue Williams read the following: “It is with deep regret that the BDO has to announce the cancellation of the Old Billingsgate event due to take place on 26 - 28th February 2016.

“It has been confirmed that anyone who has purchased tickets to the event will be reimbursed by PayPal and Ticketmaster by clicking a button on their sites.

“TV discussions have been ongoing but have not reached a conclusion in time for this event to take place.

“I can also confirm that any player that has paid for flights will be reimbursed in full on production of their receipts.

“This situation is beyond our control and is not a position that we wanted to find ourselves in but unfortunately there was no other solution at this late stage.”

Shortly after the news broke out, De:Luxe tweeted: ‘#TPC New date to be announced next week!

Wonder why @BDODarts were asked to change the date.’

A week later the events company announced on Twitter that 576 refunds had been completed, with only 13 outstanding refunds left to

process. Since then De:Luxe have posted no updates on their Twitter account, and several attempts from Darts Weekly to speak with a senior figure at the company have all so far fallen flat.

Talk of the cancelled Players Championship being rescheduled to sometime in the summer has also dried up in recent weeks, while the lack of news regarding the upcoming Festival of Darts has left darts fans concerned that another cancellation could be on the cards very soon.

A call to the BDO’s media department earlier this week provided no new information, as when asked if De:Luxe are going to be running the Festival of Darts, the response was: “We’ve got no comment at the moment.

“It’s still under negotiations.

There’s nothing out there at the moment.

“As soon as we know anything that’s when it will go up and not until we know.”

The reaction on Twitter from darts fans to the BDO’s response suggested they are already fearing the worst. Oche Balboa tweeted: ‘No schedule, no players, no tickets and less than 4 weeks left, time for BDO to tell us what’s happening.’

Darts Weekly Friday 26 February 2016

Danny Noppert produced an excellent performance as he averaged over 100 to beat Dean Reynolds 6-0 and win the Scottish Open title.

The young Dutchman came through a field of more than 1,000 players at the Normandy Cosmopolitan Hotel in Renfrew at the weekend to pick up his first big title in the BDO. Noppert saw off two-time Lakeside champion Ted Hankey in the semi finals, with a 99.36 average helping him beat the Count 5-1 on Sunday evening.

The recent Dutch Open finalist took that form into the final, where he averaged 100.20 as he whitewashed Reynolds 6-0 to take home the £3,000 winner’s cheque.

After comfortably holding his throw in the first leg, Noppert posted two 14 dart legs to go 3-0

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him to within one of victory, which he secured in the next leg by taking out 76 to be crowned champion.

Noppert was in good form as he dropped just one leg on route to the last 64, recording whitewash wins over David Hamilton, Bob McGovern and David Kiltie before beating Glen McGrandle 3-1.

The 26-year-old then picked up 4-1 victories against Dafydd Edwards, Neil Duff and Shaun Carroll, with a 5-0 triumph over Dave Parletti securing his place in the semi finals.

Elsewhere, Lorraine Winstanley reeled off three legs in a row to beat Deta Hedman 5-3 and win the Scottish Open Ladies title.

With the first five legs having all gone with throw, Hedman threatened the first break when she left 60, but Winstanley checked out 134 on double 16 to

Champion: Danny Noppert Three-time world champion Martin Adams and comedian trophy drought in the BDO. Greg Davies teamed up for Earlier in the day, Glen Durrant the return of Let’s Play Darts and Martin Atkins beat Stephen PICTURE: BBC Lennon and Michael Meaney 3-1 to win the Men’s Pairs title.

Database PDC CORAL UK OPEN QUALIFIERS (legs) (Robin Park Tennis Centre, Wigan) Qualifier Four last 32 - M Webster 6-2 W Jones, G Anderson 6-5 A Gilding, S Whitlock 6-2 V van der Voort, I White 6-3 P Taylor, M van Gerwen 6-2 M King, M Smith 6-5 G Price, B van de Pas 6-3 P Milford, J Pipe 6-0 D Chisnall, J Klaasen 6-2 M Suljovic, R Evans 6-5 A Tabern, J Wade 6-2 J Cullen, K Huybrechts 6-4 W Newton, S Beaton 6-2 A Smith, T Jenkins 6-1 A Hamilton, Y Meeuwisse 6-3 P Wright, D Gurney 6-2 S Bunting.

Last 16 - G Anderson 6-2 M Webster, S Whitlock 6-2 I White, M van Gerwen 6-0 M Smith, B van de Pas 6-4 J Pipe, J Klaasen 6-3 R Evans, J Wade 6-3 K Huybrechts, T Jenkins 6-3 S Beaton, D Gurney 6-3 Y Meeuwisse.

Quarter finals - G Anderson 6-3 S Whitlock, B van de Pas 6-4 M van Gerwen, J Wade 6-3 J Klaasen, T Jenkins 6-4 D Gurney. Semi finals - G Anderson 6-4 B van de Pas, J Wade 6-3 T Jenkins.

Final - G Anderson 6-1 J Wade.

Qualifier Five last 32 - P Taylor 6-0 J Lewis, G Anderson 6-4 R Huybrechts, J De Graaf 6-4 M Smith, S Whitlock 6-2 S Kellett, V van der Voort 6-3 M McGowan, G Price 6-2 M King, J Foreman 6-4 A Jenkins, M Webster 6-0 K Painter.

Last 16 - P Taylor 6-4 G Anderson, J

Klaasen 6-5 R Eidams, M van Gerwen 6-1 A Hamilton, T Jenkins 6-4 I White, M Suljovic 6-4 J Henderson, S Whitlock 6-3 J De Graaf, G Price 6-4 V van der Voort, M Webster 6-3 J Foreman.

Quarter finals - P Taylor 6-3 J Klaasen, M van Gerwen 6-2 T Jenkins, M Suljovic 6-4 S Whitlock, G Price 6-1 M Webster.

Semi finals - M van Gerwen 6-3 P Taylor, G Price 6-3 M Suljovic.

Final - M van Gerwen 6-2 G Price.

Qualifier Six last 32 - I White 6-5 J Pipe, K Anderson 6-2 K Huybrechts, J Wade 6-2 A Norris, M King 6-4 J Worsley, L Evans 6-3 G Price, M van Gerwen 6-1 K Dowling, M De Decker 6-5 J Dekker, P Taylor 6-2 A Lewis, D Gurney 6-4 J Wattimena, P Wright 6-5 J Murnan, D Brown 6-5 W Jones, M Webster 6-5 M Suljovic, S Beaton 6-2 C Reyes, S Dale 6-1 V van der Voort, M Edgar 6-4 A Boulton, S Bunting 6-1 B van de Pas. Last 16 - I White 6-1 K Anderson, M King 6-4 J Wade, M van Gerwen 6-4 L Evans, P Taylor 6-2 M De Decker, P Wright 6-2 D Gurney, M Webster 6-0 D Brown, S Beaton 6-4 S Dale, S Bunting 6-2 M Edgar.

Quarter finals - I White 6-0 M King, M van Gerwen 6-2 P Taylor, M Webster 6-1 P Wright, S Beaton 6-4 S Bunting. Semi finals - M van Gerwen 6-1 I White, S Beaton 6-4 M Webster.

Final - M van Gerwen 6-2 S Beaton.

PDC CORAL UK OPEN RILEYS AMATEUR QUALIFIERS London Victoria - A Roy and J Scott.

Greenock - A Davidson. Liverpool - L Delderfield. Norwich - R Cross.

Nottingham - M Wilson.

Wolverhampton - A Brown and G McGrandle. Chester - S Maish. Chorlton - L Grimshaw. Solihull - J Heaver. South Benfleet - B Lynn. Worcester - B Green.

PDC BETWAY PREMIER LEAGUE (legs) (GE Oil and Gas Arena, Aberdeen) Week four - A Lewis 7-5 J Wade, G Anderson 7-3 R van Barneveld, M van Gerwen 7-1 M Smith, P Taylor 7-5 D Chisnall, P Wright 6-6 R Thornton.

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

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Friday 26 February 2016 Darts Weekly

RICKY WILLIAMS A DARTER’S DIARY

Change in attitude will help me on the PDC tour I had my first taste of what it’s like being a PDC tour card holder this month as I headed to Wigan for two weekends of qualifiers for this year’s UK Open.

I didn’t manage to qualify for Minehead but I had some really good games and a couple of good results over the two weekends.

I beat Max Hopp, the world youth champion, in the fourth qualifier and I don’t think he qualified for the UK Open either.

There’s a lot of good players who haven’t qualified for it so it shows you the standard of the players on the tour now.

Everyone can beat everyone and you’ve got to be on your game every time you play.

After beating Max I then went up against Peter Wright, the current leader in the Premier League.

He whitewashed me 6-0 but the scoreline didn’t really reflect how I played in that match.

I was first to the double in a lot of the legs, but when you play them sort of the players, they’re clinical.

If you have them darts in your hand at a double and miss them, you don’t get another go.

It’s nice to play against the top players again, and for me now it’s just about trying to get consistent all the time.

Then I can see if I can play against the top players and be in their company.

After losing to Peter I then played well the following day, where I had a prelim game to start off with against Mike Zuydwijk.

I won two games that day but didn’t pick up any money, as I lost to Nathan Aspinall in my third

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watch an evening of the Premier

watch an evening of the Premier

game. I was playing some good darts but I just didn’t get the breaks that sometimes you need.

There were positives to take from the two weekends though, as before I used to get negative and think I’m playing well and still haven’t qualified so I can’t do it.

But it’s different this time around. I’m playing well and I’ve

so it’s not the same. Having the tour card has meant my work has changed a bit.

As a decorator I have an early start, get home at around 5pm, have a quick bath, something to eat and then straight up the pub for a couple hours of practice.

My general day at the minute is getting up, having a bit of breakfast, maybe a run or an hour or two up the gym, come back for a couple hours’ practice in the daytime and then I may try and have an hour or two in the evening.

I’m looking forward to the rest of the year and can’t wait to get started on the Pro Tour now.

My sponsors Adrian Court Removals have been a massive help to me, and I can’t finish without thanking them for their support in my career so far.

Without them it would not be possible to play on the tour so thank you for all your help.

“I’ve got three weeks off now and I can’t wait to get started on the Pro Tour” got a different attitude. I think it’ll come together if I keep throwing darts like I am.

Since I got my tour card last month I’ve been practicing a few hours every day.

It’s not just been any old practice. I’m trying to do different things in practice by mixing it up