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Dave and
Julie take Manx Singles
titles
The Red Rose of Lancashire flew proudly after Dave Chisnall pulled off a surprise victory to topple Welsh international
Robert Hughes 3-1 and land the Isle of Man International Darts Festival’s
prestige men’s singles title.
Chisnall from St Helens said that it was
his biggest win in darts and he planned to plough his £5000 first prize into
chasing rankings points over the coming year.
“I am speechless, I really didn’t expect
to win but have practise hard before the event,” said delighted Chisnall at the
end of the three day tournament, staged at the impressive sea-front Villa Marina
in Douglas.
Fellow county team mate Lisa Ashton came
close to making it a double success for Lancashire, toppling world champion
Anastasia Dobromyslova before losing out by the odd leg in five in the final to
Wales Julie Gore who successfully defended her title.
There was further success for the Red
Rose county in the Winmau World Masters youth playoffs with Shaun Griffiths
whitewashing Andrew Currivan of Essex 2-0.
“Chissy” fought back from
losing the opening leg to score the biggest win of his career and pocket £5000.
En-route to the final he had
clinically dispatched former world champ Ted Hankey, former world number one
Gary Anderson from Scotland and Steve West who played in January’s world
championship.
The Manx event – the 23rd in
the history – proved to be another success for the tourist-board backed
tournament which saw more than 700 travellers toeing the oche for the three-day
£20,000 tournament.
Proceedings kicked off with the mixed
pairs on the Friday evening attracting around
400 teams. Predictably the big names romped through to the final stages.
The final threw together John Walton and Christine Hyde who scored a 2-0 success
over Shaun Greatbatch and Barbara Lee.
Having tasted success in the mixed
pairs, 2001 world champ John Walton joined forces with Yorkshire team mate
Martin Atkins to annex the men’s doubles, defeating Steve Bunting and Tim Murnam.
“John Boy” fired out a maximum in the opening leg and he and Atkins clinched
victory with a 15-dart checkout, finished on double tops.
The ladies pairs went to the impressive
Russian pairing of Anastasia Dobromyslova and Irina Armstrong, who battled back
from 1-0 down to inflict defeat on Holland’s Kate Ten Kate and her Yorkshire
partner Karen Lawman 2-1.
There was a disappointing turnout in the
eagerly-awaiting women’s singles with just 130 toeing the oche, despite the top
prize of £3000 and cash prizes paid down to the last 64.
Putting her reputation at stake was
seven times world champ Trina Gulliver – twice a winner of the Manx tournament –
who had experienced a miserable start to 2008 after losing her world crown after
a seven-year unbeaten run at the Lakeside championship.
The player in form ahead of the
tournament in Douglas was Russian Anastasia Dobromyslova – the first East
European to win a world championship title – who had convincingly won both the
Dutch and Scottish open titles. But hopes of lifting the Manx title were
thwarted at the quarter final stage by Lancashire’s impressive Lisa Ashton.
Gulliver enjoyed a relatively
trouble-free run to the last eight but then lost an absorbing encounter with
Welsh skipper Julie Gore – a repeat of last year’s final when the woman from the
Principality claimed the Manx title.
Karin Krappen of Holland, who reached the
last four beating international team mate Roelie Bakker and Russian Irina
Armstrong, had high hopes of reaching the final but buckled after Lancashire’s
Lisa Ashton blasted out a 13-dart opening leg in the semi final clash.
Krappen levelled but Ashton swept back,
taking the third with an 80 checkout after hitting a maximum.
Throwing first the Dutch player failed
to find the big scores as Ashton missed double tops for victory. Krappen
then missed
double eight leaving the Lancashire player to clinch victory on double 10.
In the second semi-final defending champ Gore
coasted to a relatively easy 3-0 victory over up and coming Dutch star Carla Molema.
Twice the Welsh skipper edged ahead in
the final against the determined Lancashire sharpshooter who annexed the second
leg with an eye-catching 100 checkout but
scores of 137 and 100 steered Gore to her second Manx title, when
she finished on
double five.
Afterwards she declared: ”I won the
title on double five to win last year and then hit the same double to knock out
Trina (Gulliver) and now it has won me the title for the second time. I am still
shaking – this is a really great tournament to win.”
Islanders found the pace too hot to
handle in the ladies event with international and county players keen to boost
their world rankings points accounts.
Four islanders – Jackie Sayle, Rachael
Robertson, Pauline Brown and Sam Bryant – reached the last 64 to collect £10
each and a share in the £50 prize for the best Manx performance.
And in the men’s singles, which
attracted 514 hopefuls, it was a similar story for the Manx sharpshooters as
they struggled to master the power-scoring of the top internationals.
Alan Evans crashed to former world
number one Gary Anderson from Scotland, while Geoff Hurst won an all Isle of Man
board semi final clash with Gilbert Guest but then lost a clash with Mark
Barilli when bidding for a place in the last 32. Veteran Charlie Cover was the third
islander to reach his board final, losing to bubbly Dutch international Co
“The Matchstick” Stompe.
The fact that the quarter finals
featured five players who had competed in January’s Lakeside world championships
demonstrated the calibre of the Manx field.
Winner 12 months ago Gary Robson
despatched Scotland’s Robert Thornton to set up an intriguing semi final with
Lancashire’s Dave Chisnall, who had buried the hopes of Ted “The Count” Hankey
3-2.
In the bottom half of the draw
Pembrokeshire’s Robert Hughes wrecked the hopes of Dutch teenager Toon Geebe to
set up a classic England versus Wales clash with former world champ Martin
Adams. “Wolfie” had survived a nail-biting five-leg thriller to edge out
Cambridge county team-mate Shaun Greatbatch.
Robson defended his throw in the opening
leg of his semi final clash with Chisnall but then missed three doubles to take
a psychological lead, the St Helens player blasting in two 100s as he took the
third leg against the throwing advantage on double 20.
Despite two 180s from Robson in the
fourth, Chisnall blasted in a 180 and clinched victory in 13 darts, finished on
double 12.
Hughes hit a 14-darter – including a
maximum – as he took the opening leg of his semi with England skipper Martin
Adams, against the throw.
He then took the next on double 16,
Adams displaying his characteristic fighting qualities to take the third on the
same double after Hughes missed double 13 for the title. A ton and two 140s
steered Wolfie to the fourth leg in 15 darts.
The England skipper looked firm
favourite to reach his third final as he unleashed three 140s to leave himself
81, the Welshman stranded on 191 and unable to finish.
But Adams twice missed double 12, Hughes
hitting 81 to leave a potential two-dart match winning finish of 110. "Wolfie"
missed a further four doubles as Hughes let out a howl of delight as he clinched
victory on double nine.
In the surprise final, which featured
none of the sport’s top names, Welshman Hughes stole the march, taking the
opening leg against the throw after Chisnall missed double 13 for an 81 finish.
Scores of 100, 135 and 119 steered the St Helen’s man to the second and despite
three tons from Hughes, Chisnall took the third on double 16.
Both players hit four scores of 100 and
over in the race to the double in the fourth leg, the Welsh international
missing double tops for a match-winning 80 finish and then a further three
doubles for victory.
Cool Chisnall claimed the biggest win of
his career calmly hitting single nine and double 16 as Hughes was left to
reflect on what might have been.
Results 2008 23rd
IoM Darts Festival
Winmau World Masters Youth
1 S Griffiths £100; 2 A Currigan £50; 3=
M Davies, J Rose £30
Mixed Pairs
1 J Walton/C Hyde £400; 2
S Greatbatch/B Lee £200; 3= M Phillips/J Robbins, S Coote/K Krappen
£100; 5-8 P Nixon/L Carroll, J Henderson/ V Hughes, P Hogan/A Allsop, S
Bunting/A Dobromyslova £50; 9-16 M Webster/L Hyde, W v d Wier/ R Bakker, D Prins/L
Jones, E Max/F Hoenselaar, G Thompson/K Lawman,P Boughey/S Smart, S Liptrot/D
Shaw, G Bell/S Davies £30
Ladies Pairs
1 A Dobromyslova?I Armstrong £360; 2 K
Ten Kate/K Lawman £180; 3= H Draper/D Baxter, R Dixon/Z Jones
H
£90; 5-8 T Bishop/S Davies, J Robbins/D Bateman, J Gore/S
Rimmington, T Gowers/K Gosden £50
Mens Pairs
1 J Walton/M Atkins £400; 2 S Bunting/T
Murnam £200; 3= G Anderson/G Robson, D Chisnall/G Vincent £100; 5-8 B Woods/A
Foster, S Waites/G Thompson, P Taylor/M Taylor, K Hartley/S Whiteside £50
Ladies Singles
1 J Gore £3000; 2 L Ashton £1000; 3= K Krappen, C Molema
£400; 5-8 I Armstrong, A Dobromyslova, O Byamkama, T Gulliver £100; 9-16 R
Bakker, F Hoenselaar, L Akister, T Ingall,
A Allsop, H Draper, L Hepburn, D Bateman £50; 17-32 A Mason, Z Jones, L
Kelly, K ten Kate, C Gemmell, L Jones, S Biddles, D Shaw, K Lawman, K McKinnon,
S Davies, B Lee, L Howarth, K Brown, A Smith, F Lawson £20; 33-64 C Muldoon, A
Ward, P Brown, R Robertson, S Woods, A Waslin, M Horner, R Alexander, E Spencer,
G Whitworth, K Salisbury, S Rimmington, L Tomlinson, J Sayle, S Lumb, C Venables,
V Hughes, R Ford, S Witten, T Bishop, C Hyde, M Pickering, L McClay, K Conway, S
Bryans, T Wright, D Collyer, P Gowers, J Marsden, S Hodsson, V Ebbs, M Farrell
£10.
Mens
Singles
1 D Chisnall £5000; 2 R
Hughes £1000; 3= M Adams, G Robson £500; 5-8 R Thornton, T Hankey, T Geebe, S
Greatbatch £125; 9-16 K Sims, T O’Shea, E Max, G Anderson, S Waites, C Stompe, R
Montgomery, J Henderson £50; 17-32
A Boulton, D Fitton, D Timmins, S Bunting, T Burrows, S West, S Coote, S Kellett,
M v Maastricht, S Griffiths, M Veitch, A Bone, M Barilli, R Brown, G Thompson, P
Gibbs £30; 33-64 A Young, T Birch,
D McCarthy, J Wilson, A Evans, D Fearn, J ten Berg, C Loudon, P Whitworth, G
Hurst, A Foster, F Carter, M Johnson, A Johnson, A Fitzpatrick, D Smith, A
Soutar, C Cover, P Shaw, W Brown, M Nott, K Vennick, S Hayton, M Phillips, M
Webster, B Clarkson, S Barlow, P Hogan, P Loos, S Bensfield, A Kirkham, M Robb
£20
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