The 2013 European Darts Championships begin in fine fashion
last night, not that many people from Germany would know. The tournament is
being held in Mulheim but it was a shame to see the venue half empty and
without much of that fantastic atmosphere that is becoming entwined with
darting majors.
Maybe it was because it was the opening round or that it was
a Thursday or a combination of both, either way it didn’t stop eight great
games to begin the tournament. There were mixed results for the Huybrechts brothers
and wins for the World Champion, world number four and the reigning European
champion along with wins for Jamie Caven, Colin Lloyd, Robert Thornton and
Raymond van Barneveld.
Ronny Huybrechts started the night with perhaps his best
performance in a major tournament. The older of the Belgian brothers managed to
score an average of over 100 on his way to beating Stuart Kellett 6-3. Younger
brother Kim didn’t have the same fate, but he did have the unenviable task of
facing the reigning champion, Simon Whitlock. Huybrechts missed too many
doubles and soon found himself 4-1 down after initially winning the opening
leg. But the Belgian managed to fight back and level the scores before missing
three darts to go 5-4 in front. Whitlock then completed the 6-4 victory with a
great 110-checkout to keep his title defence alive.
Phil Taylor was magical last weekend as he managed to win a
PTC in Minehead. He looked to continue that form here with a first round
victory of Netherlands’ Vincent van der Voort. A ton checkout ensured that The
Power had a 3-0 lead before missing five darts at the double and allowing van
der Voort to claw it back to 6-2. The doubles seemed to be the only real blip
in a steady Taylor performance that saw him lead 5-2 before winning the match
6-3.
James Wade possibly proved that it doesn’t matter who you
play against, it’s how you play the board. This is because The Machine was due
to play Gary Anderson before the Scot pulled out with illness, with everyone
hoping he will be okay to play in the World Matchplay later this month,
allowing Mark Webster to take his place. But the change obviously didn’t faze
Wade as he took an instant 3-0 lead. That would become 4-2 before Wade
continued his efficient performance to seal a 6-2 victory and comfortably
progress.
On the face of it, 6-2 and 6-1 scorelines for Thornton and
van Barneveld would suggest they had relatively easy matches and played well,
but neither match was quite that simple. Thornton did play extremely well
against Brendan Dolan and was 4-0 ahead without any real trouble. The only
problem for Thornton was the fact that he had pulled a muscle in his back and
it was proving very painful for him. But he battled on and hit a 100-checkout
to go 5-1 ahead before taking the eighth leg to win the match 6-2.
Van Barneveld began his tournament against Germany’s own
Tomas Seyler and, without disrespecting the world 93; the Dutchman would have
had problems against someone with a higher calibre. Barney stormed in to the
game with a fantastic 156-checkout in the opening leg. Seyler did equalise but
would then miss a total of 16-darts at the double to help Barneveld secure a
6-1 victory. The Dutchman’s performance can be monitored by noting that he
required four double fours to win two thirds of his legs.
Perhaps the ‘biggest’ upset of the night goes to Lloyd who
managed to see off the in form Peter Wright. Lloyd had managed to go 2-1 in
front before Snakebite retaliated with an 84-checkout on the bull. Lloyd
returned to go 4-2 and then 5-4 in front before winning the match with an
impressive 116-checkout. But the performance of the night was to go to Caven
who managed to whitewash the world number ten, Dave Chisnall. Caven is in the
form of his career after recently publishing a book and managed to beat Chisnall
with a ton plus average and a highlight of a 118-checkout in the penultimate
fifth leg.
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