2013 European Darts Championship Day Two

Day two of the European Darts Championships saw the conclusion of the first round but it left more disappointment on the lips of many. The action, like yesterday, was exciting and dramatic but the German crowd was so lacklustre that the atmosphere was unbearable. Just like on Thursday, the world’s top players looked like they were just down the local, albeit rather large, tavern with the odd punter shouting out.

ITV haven’t helped much and to be honest, the darting world should remain split between the BBC and Sky because their coverage cannot be beaten. With very little advertising and the only allowing of some games, including the whole Saturday afternoon session, to be viewed via the internet is absurd and does nothing to help promote the sport.

For those that did watch the second part of the first round, they managed to see the favourite Michael van Gerwen and double world champion Adrian Lewis win their matches. There were also victories for Justin Pipe, Paul Nicholson, Andy Hamilton, Mervyn King, Jelle Klaasen and Kevin Painter as Germany’s final entrant exited the stage and a magic 170-checkout was hit.

The hosts’ participation ended when Nicholson managed to see off 16-year old Max Hopp. Thanks to ITV, those who were unaware of the internet coverage could only join this match with Hopp 3-2 in front. That became 4-3 before Nicholson managed to dig deep in front of the partisan crown to take the following three legs and win it 6-4. Before that, internet viewers would have seen Pipe see off Finland’s Jani Haavisto 6-3.  

Hopp’s match was probably the only time the German crowd lifted their voices and added something to this tournament. 

The lack of atmosphere may have affected some of the performances as van Gerwen was noticeably flat against Belgium’s Kurt van de Rijck. It would have taken a miracle for van de Rijck to have won the match anyway, but he certainly didn’t need the devastating news that his grandfather had passed away a few hours previously. The Belgian did manage to win leg four which ended up being in the middle of van Gerwen’s blocks of three consecutive legs. Van Gerwen wasn’t anywhere near his best though and, with a lot of missed doubles, he’ll be hoping to improve in round two.

The first deciding leg came in to play when Hamilton faced Terry Jenkins. After a nervy start with missed doubles aplenty, Jenkins managed to take the opening leg. Hamilton turned it around before Jenkins fought back with three straight legs to lead 4-2. Ever the fighter, Hamilton again roared back with a 112-checkout before going 5-4 in front. The Bull managed to set up an 11^th leg which Hamilton ended up winning to progress. There was also a deciding leg in the following match when Ronnie Baxter faced King. It was a very rare occasion where the bull to decide who threw first was the most crucial dart in the match. Every single leg went with throw, despite Baxter having two chances to break in a couple of legs, to leave King with a 6-5 victory.

Last year’s runner-up, Wes Newton, failed to make it past the first round this year after losing to Klaasen. It was a topsy turvy affair as Klaasen had taken a 2-0 lead before Newton reeled off four consecutive legs to go 4-2 in front. But the Dutchman responded with four consecutive legs of his own, including a 129-checkout with two double-18s in the ninth leg and a 112-checkout in the tenth, to win the match 6-4.

6-4 was the same scoreline in the other two matches as Lewis faced Austria’s Mensur Suljovic and Painter faced Canada’s John Part. Suljovic began his match with a 111-checkout and took a 3-1 lead before missing darts to make it 4-1. That turned out to be the turning point as Lewis took the next two legs to go 4-3 in front. Suljovic did level before Lewis took the following two legs to progress. The crucial darts in the final game came in the third leg when Part missed five darts to level the match at 2-2. The lead was 4-1 before Part came back and ended up taking out a colossal 170-checkout in the seventh leg and then levelling in the eighth. But Painter would take out the next two legs to also take the final place in the second round.