Issue 2 (January 8, 2016)

Friday 8 January 2016

Darts Weekly

Anderson on top of the world again

â—ŠThe Flying Scotsman beats Adrian Lewis 7-5 to retain PDC crown Pages 2-3

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Friday 8 January 2016 Darts Weekly

Anderson now fulfilling his potential after retaining Sid Waddell Trophy at Ally Pally Alex Moss CHIEF DARTS WRITER In eight years at the Lakeside, Gary Anderson never reached the final.

This was the Scot's seventh stab at trying to win the PDC's World Championship and he has now won it twice and finished runnerup in another year.

It is a remarkable change of fortunes for the 45-year-old, who is now fulfilling the potential he first showed when he won the PDC Welsh Open back in 2001.

Sunday's final against two-time world champion Adrian Lewis was a chance for Anderson to show far he has come since they met in the 2011 decider, which Jackpot won 7-5 and with a nine-dart leg.

One of Anderson's big weapons in his armoury is the ability to get out of the blocks quickly in a match, regardless of the occasion.

The world number two had thrilled the Alexandra Palace on the previous night when he hit the tournament's first nine darter, which came in just the third leg of his 6-0 win over Jelle Klaasen.

Anderson did not enjoy the same flying start in the final though, as Lewis took the first set 3-1 to take an early advantage.

The Flying Scotsman was sharp in rediscovering the form that had seen him breeze into a second consecutive World Championship final, winning six of the next seven legs to go 2-1 up in sets.

The momentum continued to swing back and forth in the early stages, as Jackpot made the most of Anderson's miscount on a checkout en route to claiming set four in a deciding leg.

Lewis fired in a brilliant 131 checkout early on in the fifth set and eventually hit double five in the deciding leg to go 3-2 in front.

The 2011 and 2012 world champion then hit back-to-back 180s in an 11-dart leg at the start

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 set. And he looked on course to force a decider when back-to-back 180s helped him gain an early break in set 12.

However Anderson immediately broke back to level the set, and then fired in a superb 170 checkout to go 2-1 up.

It would be the shot that finally broke Jackpot's resistance, as Anderson hit double 12 in the next leg to successfully defend his world title, in a final which included a record-breaking 34 180s.

As well as keeping hold of the Sid Waddell Trophy for another year, Anderson also pocketed ÂŁ300,000, the largest winner's cheque in the sport's history.

Anderson's name was also added to the history books as the fourth first-time winner to go and defend the World Championship the following year.

Only Eric Bristow, Raymond van Barneveld and Lewis out of 26 world champions had completed the feat, and now the Flying Scotsman can aim to create his own slice of history next year.

Retaining the PDC's world crown for a third consecutive year would make him the first first-time winner to defend it twice in a row.

Anderson may have been a late bloomer in terms of major title wins, but he is blossoming now!

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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 24 wins out of their 35 meetings, perhaps vitally it is the Machine who holds the better record when they've faced off in major events.

Wade has got the better of the Scot in their two clashes in the World Matchplay in 2009 and 2013, and also came out on top 4-3

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Top 10 make up the Premier League line-up

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The top 10 players in the newlyrevised PDC Order of Merit make up the list of players for this year's Betway Premier League.

World number one Michael van Gerwen and world champion Gary Anderson headline the 10-player field, along with Adrian Lewis and Phil Taylor, who were all handed automatic places for being in the top four of the Order of Merit.

2014 winner Raymond van Barneveld and last year's semifinalist Dave Chisnall join them as the wildcard picks by Sky Sports.

Peter Wright and James Wade were among the PDC's wildcard picks, along with Robert Thornton, who returns after missing out on a place in last year's event.

Michael Smith is the only debutant in this year's field, with the former world youth champion impressing in his run to the quarter-finals of the William Hill World Championship last week.

Thornton and Smith replace Kim Huybrechts and Stephen Bunting from 2015's line-up, after the duo struggled to match their heroics from 2014 which earned them their debuts in the competition.

After being relegated from the Premier League on Judgement Night last year, Huybrechts helped Belgium reach the semi-finals of the World Cup in June.

But just one TV quarter-final appearance followed after that, with a 16-4 thrashing from van Gerwen in the Grand Slam and then a first round exit at the World Championship putting an end to his chances of retaining his place.

All of Bunting's quarter-final appearances on TV since last year's Premier League have come in the World Series events, with the former Lakeside winner suffering early exits in the World Matchplay, World Grand Prix and World Championship which prevented him from a spot in 2016.

The Premier League starts in Leeds on Thursday, February 4.

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Friday 8 January 2016 Darts Weekly

Osborne hoping success at Q-School can be the start of his road back to the top Alex Moss CHIEF DARTS WRITER Hundreds of players from across the world will be descending on Wigan's Robin Park Tennis Centre next week for the PDC's Qualifying School, a gruelling four-day event with the prize of a tour card on the PDC circuit up for grabs.

Among those who will be vying for a tour card when Q-School gets underway on Wednesday will be Colin Osborne.

Back in 2009 Osborne was flying high in the top 16 of the PDC Order of Merit, and after reaching the final of the UK Open then went on to beat Phil Taylor to win the Championship League Darts.

Fast forward to the start of 2016 and Ozzy has lost his tour card. A first round exit to Brendan Dolan in the PDC World Championship two years ago was the last time he has been seen on our television screens, and since then the 40year-old endured difficult 2014 and 2015 seasons on the circuit.

The Middlesbrough-born thrower took home less than ÂŁ2,000 from the PDC tour in the last two years, and as a result will now be fighting for his place back on the circuit next week in Wigan.

"It's my first time having to go there and I don't know what to expect if I'm honest," Osborne said. "Based on the amount of entries they're going to be long days, so there's going to be a lot of waiting about.

"It's just about occupying yourself, keeping yourself busy and not being sat around getting too lethargic. I've been putting in a lot of hard work so I'll be going there upbeat and fully prepared."

Along with former world finalist Peter Manley, Osborne will be one of the most recognised players at this year's Q-School, with action getting underway each day at 12pm and concluding at around 7pm. It

will be a slog for any player who makes it through to the last four on each day, which is the stage when tour cards are handed out.

Osborne is positive about his chances of gaining his place back on the tour next week, and is looking at Q-School as the perfect opportunity to get his career back on track.

"This can kick-start it back off again," he said. "I was up there doing what I was doing, but in the last couple of years I've not been getting the results I've wanted.

"It's just spiralled like that. Over the last six to eight months I've been putting in a lot of work, and the support from my family, friends, Winmau, JLC Cars, New Generation as well as all the close people around me, has given me the belief to keep going."

Ozzy's slide down the rankings has been a mystery to darts fans,

"I've seen both sides of the coin and it has opened my eyes" with his run to the UK Open final back in 2009 seeing him dismantle Raymond van Barneveld 9-4 in the last 16, and then Jamie Caven 10-3 and Kevin Painter 10-7 to reach his first televised final.

"If I could put my finger on it I'd tell you," Osborne admitted. "It's probably a lack of confidence. I don't know whether I'd of handled anything differently from what I've done previously, but it's just a mystery what has happened.

"From performing so well to then not producing the goods on the day. It's like a snowball effect.

"When you're winning games, everything takes care of itself and you carry that momentum forward, but once you start getting a few bad results and things go against you, it goes the opposite way.

"I can't put my finger on one thing apart from confidence. Being in the game we're in and the

xxx x x x x x x xx x x x x x x x x x x x x xx xx x x x x business we're in, winning breeds confidence. And the proof is in the pudding, over the last two years I've not won enough games to build on that confidence."

Having turned 40 last summer, Ozzy is still young in darts terms and he has ambitions to continue playing well into his 50s.

"I see myself even younger than that within my mind and my body," he said. "I'm a young 40, and that's no disrespect to anyone else who is 40.

"Some days I feel 21 and other days I feel like I'm 61, but within the darting world I'm still relatively young.

"Playing this game at the highest level I still feel I've got a good 15 years plus, but I've got to knuckle down if I want to do that.

"With the game we do play it's more mental than anything else.

"We're not running marathons or playing 90 minutes of football. It's physically demanding because the mental side of it drains you. You

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have to have an intense focus at all times.

"But I still feel very young. I've always kept myself in shape and looked after myself, so when I do reach back up to where I was and kick on, I still feel I've got a good 15 years left in me to play."

Midway through last year Osborne took a break from the PDC tour and went back to work outside of darts to make sure money was coming in.

"I had a bit of a break earlier in the year because I was so low on confidence," he explained. "I hated the game and I just wanted to be away from darts.

"I've got a wife and two kids and obviously the money wasn't coming in through the darts, so I had to go back to work.

"Going back to work was a great thing psychologically for my mind, because it got me away from the darts and I then started enjoying it again, and I wanted to play.

"I had a three to four month

break where I didn't even pick my darts up, but the support from my family and friends and people around me gave me the encouragement and confidence to pick my darts up and go again.

"You certainly know who your true friends are. A lot of things change and from my perspective I've seen both sides of it.

"Being up there and having all the plaudits and then being on the other side where everything has been going against you. It has certainly opened my eyes."

Osborne now begins the final preparations for what could well be the biggest week of his career, playing for one of the tour cards available at next week's Q-School.

Four players will win an automatic tour card on each day of the four days, with those being awarded to the players who reach the semi-finals.

Additional tour cards will then be handed out based on the final QSchool Order of Merit.

Dave Ladley is hoping he will be one of the select few to take one of the tour cards available at next week's PDC Qualifying School and then work his way into the top 64.

The Scunthorpe thrower earned a tour card by finishing inside the top 24 of the Q-School Order of Merit back in 2014, but has found results hard to come by in the last two years on the PDC circuit.

Ladley finished the 2015 season 105th in the PDC Order of Merit having accrued ÂŁ7,750 during the previous two years on the tour.

The 40-year-old returns to Wigan next week to try and regain his place on the tour, and if he does so is hoping to then fulfil the potential he showed during his run to the second round of the PDC World Championship in 2007.

"This year I'm hoping to win the card back and have two years where I can really go for it properly," he said.

"It was disappointing to lose my card but it is very difficult to pick up enough money to get into the top 64. You do need to be earning ÂŁ20,000 over the two years.

"The first year of my tour card in 2014 was a bit of a tough year really because my father was dying. So although I was playing in every tournament in my first year, all I was concentrating on was my dad, and trying to use it as a break.

"We sadly lost him on Boxing Day that year, which then gave me one full year to put all my effort in.

"I beat Raymond van Barneveld in one of the UK Open Qualifiers and I had several other good wins throughout the season."

Ladley's biggest success during the last two years was a run to the last 32 of the European Grand Prix back in October, where he lost to eventual winner Kim Huybrechts.

"It would be my dream to qualify for a TV event," he said. "It was really good to be back on stage, with the TV cameras and the crowd for that European event." x

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Friday 8 January 2016 Darts Weekly

Former winners Mitchell and Waites scrape through to the last eight as Lakeside gets set for an exciting conclusion on Sunday night Alex Moss CHIEF DARTS WRITER As we head into the final three days of this year's BDO World Championship it is hard to pick a winner from the men's draw.

Number one seed Glen Durrant remains the favourite with the bookmakers after negotiating through his first and second round games without dropping a set.

Today he goes up against a resurgent Scott Waites for a place in the semi-finals, and many are tipping whoever comes out on top in that one to go all the way.

Waites came from 3-0 down last night to beat Geert de Vos and advance through to his fifth quarter-final at the Lakeside.

However Scotty 2 Hotty has only managed to progress past the last eight once in those five occasions, with a 5-2 victory over Paul Jennings leading him to go on and lift the trophy back in 2013.

Since winning the Lakeside, Waites has endured two difficult returns going out in the first and

second rounds, yet this week we have seen signs of a revival. A 96.06 average helped him cruise past Willem Mandigers last Sunday, and if he can repeat that form today then Durrant's Lakeside credentials will be seriously put to the test.

The other quarter-final tie in the top half of the draw is also an intriguing one, as number five seed Wesley Harms takes on fourth seed Jamie Hughes.

Harms reached the semi-finals at Lakeside in each of his first two appearances back in 2012 and 2013, but since then has suffered early exits in the last two years.

The Dutchman has come through two deciding sets to progress to the quarter-finals, beating Seigo Asada 3-2 and Jim Williams 4-3, and will be hoping experience will play a factor this afternoon.

Hughes only made his World Championship debut 12 months ago where he reached the second round, with wins this year over Ross Montgomery and Madars Razma seeing him advance into quarter-finals for the first time.

Then there were eight: two world champions still left in the draw

Dennis Harbour 54-year-old's first appearance at Lakeside since 2006.

Glen Durrant Number one seed who has yet to drop a set so far this year.

Richard Veenstra Only debutant left in the draw brushed aside Martin Atkins 4-0 in the second round.

Scott Waites 2013 winner came from 3-0 down to win 4-3 last night.

Wesley Harms Dutchman has come through deciding sets in both games.

Jamie Hughes Yozza is enjoying his bestever run at the Lakeside.

Jeff Smith Canadian dumped out Martin Adams 3-0 in the first round.

Scott Mitchell Defending champ (pictured) has come through two nailbiters to keep his hopes of retaining the trophy alive.

Whether his lack of experience on the Lakeside stage will play a decisive part today remains to be seen, but these two players on current form cannot be separated.

The bottom half of the draw will be played this evening and features two of the stars from last year taking on two unfamiliar faces.

Defending champion Scott Mitchell survived eight match darts in his 4-3 win over Mark McGeeney yesterday, and he continues his defence against Dutch debutant Richard Veenstra.

Remarkably this will be the third debutant Mitchell has faced at the Lakeside this year, but he has needed to draw on his sizeable experience to beat Craig Caldwell and McGeeney in deciding sets.

Scotty Dog has yet to hit the heights of his title-winning run last year, and will need to find it if he is to keep hold of the trophy.

Elsewhere, Canada's Jeff Smith continues his love affair with the Lakeside against Dennis Harbour in the other quarter-final.

Smith sent three-time champion Martin Adams home packing in the first round, while Harbour saw off Darryl Fitton en route to his first quarter-final at the Lakeside.

Richardson wins World Youth title Josh Richardson produced a stunning comeback to beat Jordan Boyce 3-2 in the BDO World Youth Championship final yesterday.

The 17-year-old, from Rushden in Northamptonshire, twice came from a set behind before winning the title with a 13-dart leg in the deciding set of the match.

It was a nervy start for both players making their debuts on the Lakeside stage, as Richardson took the first two legs in 25 and 23 darts

Darts Weekly Friday 8 January 2016

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x to establish a commanding 2-0 lead in the opening set.

However 16-year-old Boyce fought back and reeled off three straight legs, the last of those a 15 dart leg with an 84 checkout, to go 1-0 up in sets.

Richardson responded and began the second set by taking out 96 to break the Boyce throw, and after holding in leg two then finished off 68 to level the match.

The momentum continued to swing between each player, as after being whitewashed in set two, Ireland's Boyce returned the favour and won the third set 3-0.

Boyce then started the next set with the darts, but again his English opponent came back, with

x 15, 20 and 18 dart legs to send the final into a deciding set.

Richardson posted another 15dart leg to hold throw at the start of the fifth set, before Boyce hit back to keep his hopes alive.

But a 180 at the start of the next leg gave Richardson the impetus to move to within one leg of victory, which he did just moments later.

The World Youth Masters runner-up made sure he was walking away with the winner's trophy this time, with a 13-dart leg against the Boyce throw securing him the BDO's World Youth Championship crown.

Richardson now looks to keep up his memorable start to 2016 when he enters Q-School next week.

Recent Lakeside debutant Dean Reynolds talks us through his darts memories First darts memory?

Playing Richie Burnett in my firstever Super League game and beating him.

First darts hero?

My first darts hero was Phil Taylor.

First set of darts?

A set of 22g Harrow Boxers.

First darts team?

I played for my dad's team in Cardiff called the Birchgrove Blues.

First game on TV? My first game on the telly was at Selsey when I reached the final of the England Open Men's Pairs with Nick Kenny.

First nine darter?

I hit my first nine darter while I was practicing in my mum and dad's pub around the age of 18.

First professional tournament win?

That was a PDC Youth Tour event back in 2014. xx xxx

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Friday 8 January 2016 Darts Weekly

Game shot Time for a revamp?

Andrew Devonshire DARTS WRITER Shortly after Gary Anderson defended the William Hill World Darts Championship on Sunday night, attention turned to the announcement for the line-up of players who will contest this year's Premier League.

We all know that the format is 'exhibition' style. No ranking points are awarded and while it does give us weekly darts on Sky Sports for three months, more often than not the line-up of players only differs slightly from the previous year.

I'm pretty sure all knowledgeable darts fans would have picked this year's line-up of 10 players!

Surely it's time to spice things up and give darts fans something different to look forward to.

Why not select five players from the PDC and then five players from the BDO? This would make for interesting matches every week and give fans something different than the usual games we see.

Hands up who would prefer to Database PDC WILLIAM HILL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP (sets) (Alexandra Palace, London)

Quarter finals - R van Barneveld (99.44) 5-4 M Smith (97.61), A Lewis (102.51) 5-2 P Wright (103.10), G Anderson (105.25) 5-1 J Wade (88.05), A Norris (98.33) 4-5 J Klaasen (99.35).

Semi finals - R van Barneveld (94.07) 3-6 A Lewis (99.55), G Anderson (107.32) 6-0 J Klaasen (94.68).

Final - A Lewis (100.23) 5-7 G Anderson (99.26).

BDO WORLD PROFESSIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP (sets) (Lakeside Country Club, Frimley Green) Men's Preliminary round - S Asada (92.64) 3-1 D Labanauskas (83.70), R Modra (80.79) 0-3 J Walton (90.06), P Sajwani (80.58) 3-2 S Hewson (74.01), D Cameron (85.17) 0-3 T Hankey (84.99), K Pantelidis (81.90) 3-2 D Peetom (79.71), C Caldwell (91.20) 3-1 A Soutar (89.01), L Butler (83.55) 3-2 J Hurrell (78.45), M

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watch an evening of the Premier League which consisted of games such as Anderson v Durrant, van Gerwen v Adams, Taylor v Waites, Lewis v Mitchell and so on?

pressure to the players to perform throughout the year if they want to make the line-up.

There's also the added spice of BDO vs PDC which the fans find intriguing at the Grand Slam and is one of the most popular events on the darting calendar.

So come on guys who make the big decisions in the PDC, darts is moving at such a fast pace and we can push it further.

We want to see different faces and matches. It would be competitive, entertaining and controversial: the perfect recipe for success!

Why not select five players each from the PDC and BDO? People will argue if it ain't broke, don't fix it, but sometimes you need to tinker and give fans something new.

Only having five players from each organisation will also add Medhurst (81.81) 0-3 J Smith (91.59).

First round - G Durrant (89.66) 3-0 D Reynolds (81.63), R de Vreede (84.84) 2-3 L Butler (86.67), G de Vos (88.44) 3-1 K Pantelidis (76.62), S Waites (96.06) 3-0 W Mandigers (87.24), W Harms (88.59) 3-2 S Asada (88.29), J Williams (83.31) 3-0 T O'Shea (82.11), J Hughes (83.76) 3-0 R Montgomery (78.90), G Robson (76.74) 1-3 M Razma (79.62), M Adams (92.13) 0-3 J Smith (92.58), B Dawson (90.78) 3-2 J Walton (90.69), D Fitton (90.00) 2-3 D Harbour (85.44), M Phillips (76.08) 3-0 T Hankey (71.31), S Mitchell (92.97) 3-2 C Caldwell (92.76), M McGeeney (84.33) 3-0 P Sajwani (74.34), J de Graaf (87.72) 2-3 R Veenstra (89.64), P Blackwell (80.46) 0-3 M Atkins (86.88).

Second round - G Durrant (95.49) 4-0 L Butler (83.97), G de Vos (81.75) 3-4 S Waites (90.75), W Harms (85.80) 4-3 J Williams (85.02), J Hughes (82.92) 4-1 M Razma (79.83), J Smith (91.83) 4-1 B Dawson (83.22), D Harbour (87.51) 4-1 M Phillips (83.88), S Mitchell (90.63) 4-3 M McGeeney (90.90), R Veenstra (91.20) 4-0 M Atkins (95.59).

Quarter finals (Today, 1pm) G Durrant v S Waites W Harms v J Hughes J Smith v D Harbour S Mitchell v R Veenstra Semi finals (Tomorrow, 2.30pm) Final (Sunday, 5.45pm) Women's first round - L Ashton (83.67) 2-0 P Jacklin (66.99), T Gulliver (69.42) 2-1 D Bateman (61.47), A de Graaf (81.63) 2-0 C Gallagher (69.93), A Dobromyslova (72.81) 1-2 A Zijlstra (69.72), F Sherrock (77.91) 1-2 A-L Peters (70.08), Z Jones (70.77) 2-1 T Osborne (69.45), D Hedman (74.13) 2-0 C Hammond (69.75), L Winstanley (84.18) 2-0 R Brooks (69.66).

Quarter finals - L Ashton (68.19) 1-2 T Gulliver (68.70), A de Graaf (75.39) 2-1 A Zijlstra (67.08), A-L Peters (74.70) 2-1 Z Jones (71.28), D Hedman (80.28) 2-1 L Winstanley (77.79).

Semi finals (Today, 1pm) T Gulliver v A de Graaf A-L Peters v D Hedman Final (Tomorrow, 4.30pm)