World Championship 2011 - Second and Third Round

2010 is drawing to a close, and after some cracking darts in the Second and Third Rounds at the Ally Pally, the battle lines are drawn for the Quarter Finals on Saturday. New Year is always a hectic time of year, but there is just time to go through some of the highlights and look forward to Saturday, before I head off to see in the New Year in the traditional way :o)

More big beasts have inevitably been taken down, most prominent among whom - not just because he is the World Number 2 but also for reasons closer to home, which I may have alluded to in the past :o) - was James Wade, who went down 4-2 to Austrian newcomer Mensur Suljovic. Suljovic was doing very well to be level at 2 sets apiece, but in the 5th and 6th sets he stepped up to a whole different level. He stood up to everything the new Grand Slam Champion could throw at him, and returned the compliments with extra, hitting 36 ton plus, 18 140 plus and 7 maximums, compared to 36, 18 and 1 by Wade. Wade didn't lay down, and managed to win the 4th leg of the 6th set under tremendous pressure to keep his hopes alive, but it was just not to be and Suljovic took the next leg and the match to complete a victory he will remember all his life - and in front of his little son too, which was extra nice :o) Suljovic departed this tournament in his next match, losing 4-0 to Wes Newton, but hats off to him for getting that far in style.

Another high profile and unexpected casualty was Simon Whitlock. The Beard to be Feared had been cruising in the Second Round, taking out veteran Dennis Ovens in straight sets, and was definitely the favourite going into his Third Round match against the Dutch Machine Gunner Vincent van der Voort; however, it was not to be for the Wizard of Oz. He took the opening set and it seemed like everything was going to plan, but then that was what Roy thought before the tiger went for him. Van der Voort suddenly bared his fangs and pounced, taking the next 3 sets and hitting 6 maximums in the 4th set alone to leave Whitlock stunned. He recovered sufficiently to win the 5th set, but van der Voort now had the bit (and Whitlock) between his teeth and took the 6th set to round off a cracking and unexpected victory.

He was soon to be joined in the Quarter Finals by his fellow Dutchman Raymond van Barneveld, who booked his place In a 7 set thriller against the other Wizard, Colin Osborne. The pride of Derby looked set for victory at 3 sets to 2, and Barney looked tired and deflated. Whatever brand of water they use for the players on stage, however, it must be worth the money, because the effect on Barney was like giving Buckey to a Glaswegian. Barney was suddenly throwing like his dangerous old self again, taking 6 of the next 7 legs to leave Osborne looking like the dazed survivor of a natural disaster on a Red Cross poster. Barney will now face Gary Anderson in the Quarter Finals, who got there via Dennis Priestly in the Second Round and Andy 'Pieman' Smith in the Third.

And so to the Quarter Finals...

Phil Taylor, who seemed happier and on better form than he has been for a while when he defeated Peter Wright 4-1 (a large part of which may be due to the fact that his third grandchild's health is now improving after an illness), will play Mark Webster, which if both guys are on top form should be a cracking fixture. Phil Taylor goes into every match he plays as the favourite, but Webster is very capable and should not be written off.

As mentioned earlier, Gary Anderson takes on Raymond van Barneveld in another match which sparkles with darting potential energy, Adrian Lewis takes on Vincent van der Voort and Wes Newton faces Terry Jenkins; what a cracking start to the darting year we have in prospect :o)

Happy New Year everyone :o)

World Championship 2011 - First Round Round-Up

Yesterday evening brought the first round of play at the World Championships to a close and Jack and his Beanstalk have been at work from the start, with several Giant Killings taking place already.

First to go was Steve Beaton, shot from the sky by former cabin steward Mile High Mark Hylton in a 5 set thriller on Thursday 16th.

Friday 17th and Co Stompe became the second of the big names to face the final curtain. Regrets? He'd have had a few - missed doubles, and by no means too few to mention. Stompe's double trouble cost him dearly, with six misses for the first set allowing Wright to take it and more missed doubles to compound the loss. Stompe had to dig deep in the 3rd set just to avoid a whitewash, and eventually succumbed 3-1.

The same evening almost witnessed another major upset when Colin "Jaws" Lloyd took on Andree Welge. Lloydie was cruising at 2 sets to Nil when Welge, like James Bond pushing the button on the dashboard that somehow turns a 1985 Mini Metro into Thrust SSC, reeled off 8 legs on the spin to go 2 legs up in a 5th set decider. By now Lloyd had a face like Vince Cable reading the morning paper and a major upset looked on the cards, but Welge missed 3 darts for the match and Jaws managed to snatch victory from the gaping maw of defeat.

Saturday saw the arrival of the brief but bizarrely popular phenomenon that was Morohiro Hashimoto. Hashimoto won his preliminary round before being comprehensively spanked by Gary Anderson, losing in straight sets without winning a leg. Hashimoto, who seemed a little overwhelmed by his popularity with the crowd, is a great character and I hope we see more of him, but was I the only one thinking...

Hashimoto             Fungus

Anyway, Sunday saw the next mega-homicide as 3 time World Champion John Part, who, it has to be said, was not very well, went down to unknown Dane Per Laursen in straight sets, whilst Monday saw my girlfriend feeling a sense of justice as James Wade beat Antonio Alcinas, also in straight sets - I just thought I'd mention that, as she's sat next to me, prodding me and glaring :o)

Jelle Klaasen became the next high profile victim, losing to Steve Brown. This one doesn't exactly (in my book) count as a Giant Killing, since Klaasen and Brown are not far apart in the rankings, but Klaasen, the youngest ever (BDO) World Champion, has had more sucess in high profile tournaments than Brown and is a prominent name, so I thought I'd mention him. Brown took the match by 3 sets to 1.

However, if Michael van Gerwen has been asking Santa to bring him some tournament success then one can only conclude he's been checked twice and put on the naughty list. Mighty Mike lost to Austrian Mensur Suljovic by 3 sets to 1 in Tuesday's other Giant Killing, although van Gerwen has been so far from top form lately that again I almost hesitate to classify it as such. Van Gerwen, the youngest ever player to win a major televised tournament, has really been playing below his best lately. Perhaps he should go back to throwing darts in the worst crap-hole he can find. After all, it worked for Rocky... :o)

From that point on the Giants have been able to sleep soundly in their beds, with no further upsets being recorded, and the stage is set for a cracking second round when play resumes on Monday 27th December.

Right, it's time for me to close the ledger, slap on my top-hat and run home to my cheerful-yet-poor family for Christmas. Well, sort of... :o)

Merry Christmas All!

Phil Taylor: Runner Up for BBC Sports Personality of the Year

Image courtesy of the nice folks at the PDC who hopefully, since this blog is not-for-profit (much like its author, sadly), will be good sports and refrain from suing me :o)

Sadly the Power didn't win, though he was so happy you'd be forgiven for thinking he had :o)

Jockey Tony 'AP' McCoy, who has a record of victories similar to Taylor's own, did that by a margin that can only be described as 'stonking' (293,000 to Phil's 72,000). Still, coming runner-up out of 10 is pretty darn respectable; I think it's indicative of how much the perception of darts has changed over the years and that change is due, not exclusively but in no small part, to Phil Taylor.

Ok, only 1% of the population actually voted and we should keep things in perspective, but even so the BBC SPOTY is a pretty prestigious award, and to have a darts player come second at a ceremony with the likes of David Beckham, Sir Bobby Charlton, and the winning Ryder Cup Team suggests something positive, wouldn't you say?

Hope everyone's enjoying the First Round of the World Championship; tonight will feature a bit of a grudge match for my girlfriend as her hero James Wade takes on Antonio Alcinas, half of the Spanish duo who unceremoniously dumped Wade and Taylor out of the World Cup.

First Round ends on 23rd December, so on Christmas Eve I shall be sitting at my desk, like a Bob Cratchit for the Internet Age, to write up the action so far :o)

A Darting Omen...?

Has this happened to anyone else out there?

The flights on my darts are a little loose - I might splash out on a set costing more than £3.50 if Santa brings me any money - and as I threw this dart, the flight came off just prior to the release and with a thunk, this happened...

For all I know, darters with slightly defective stems might be throwing darts and having them stick backwards in the board the whole time. Or perhaps this a darting omen and I need a darting oracle to interpet the sign for me.

Unless it's a sign I should get new darts - that much I can figure out myself :o)

Sick Note

If anyone was wondering why coverage was suddenly interrupted during the Grand Slam, it's because your humble author has not been very well for the last 3 weeks.

So ill was I that I was unable to attend the inaugural PDC World Cup Final! Although given that we were banking on England being in the final, and they spectacularly weren't - paella, flamenco, conquering South America: these are things the Spanish are renowned for; kindness to bulls, completing an extension on time, producing darts players who can beat Phil Taylor and James Wade: these are things they aren't - I guess it could have been worse.

I did enjoy the bits of the World Cup I was able to watch though; I thought it was an enjoyable format, and it also threw up darts players outside the group of usual suspects (such as the Spanish; humph!).

I was also deeply chuffed that Scott Waites won the Grand Slam; throughout the tournament he was playing like he'd spent the previous year on a planet filled with swamps, being trained by a little green bloke saying "Treble 18, double top you should go for".

The commentators seemed to think there was some prospect of Scott Waites coming over to the PDC. I really hope he does; he seems to play darts at a different level in the Grand Slam, he's a top notch player, and the fact is that he'll get more TV time in a year with the PDC than in a career with the BDO. Players like Waites need TV time, and TV needs players like Waites; it's a win-win scenario.

Hopefully my convalesence will progress sufficiently to let me blog more regularly from now on, especially with the World Championship starting on Thursday. Nothing short of being called to the great oche in the sky is going to stop me watching that, and that's not going to happen. And even if it did, I have no doubt that God will have the darts on up there; I'm a theologian - we know about these things :o)

A happy darting Xmas to all :o)