Dutch Open Round Up

We set off to Holland early Thursday to play in the Dutch Open to ensure we were ready to play in the doubles which started on the Friday.  Fallon & Deta making their doubles debut, Sam & Jake and Casey & Claire Stainsby all competing for their respective titles. 

Casey & Claire won their first two games 2-0 but lost in their third game to Anna Yakovleva & Valeria Shvtec.  Sam & Jake only managed to win one game before coming unstuck against a very good pairing of Rik & Lex Van Berkel.  Fallon & Deta sailed through their first four games without dropping a leg however this run was soon challenged in the pairing of Anastastia Dobromyslova & Irina Armstrong.  The game went to the deciding leg with Fallon & Deta proceeding through to the semi finals  to meet Trina Gulliver & Zoe Jones.  Their semi final game also went to the deciding leg but this time Fallon missed two crucial darts at double top to seal the win and then Zoe taking out 89 for the game shot. 

In the singles event on Saturday, Jake went out 3-2 to Preben Krabben in his first round game.  Sam had a bit of a run taking his 1st game 3-0 v Maikel van de Heuvel, then taking his revenge on Rick van Berkel beating him 3-0, winning his 3rd game 3-2 against the Antwerp Open Champion Joppe Bakens where he then faced Kasper Hansen Steen to proceed through to the last 128 on Sunday.  Sam went 2-0 up against Kasper but five missed doubles to seal the win cost him dearly as Kasper took those opportunities and beat Sam 3-2.

Fallon had another great run in the Ladies singles winning her first four games convincingly to progress to the last 16 on the Sunday morning where she met Lakeside finalist & England International Lorriane Farlam.  Fallon lost 3-2 after having a shot at 160 to take the game and then not able to convert a further 12 darts to seal the victory.

Joe & Casey played in their respective youth competitions on Sunday morning, Joe reaching the last eight going out to an impressive Colin Roelofs from the Netherlands who went on to reach the final.  Casey was our star of the weekend winning the Girls Dutch Open title with a massive 26.36 average in the final.  Casey was superb all day, in the round robin she did not drop a single leg and continued this form through the knockout stage & then up on the main stage.  A video of Casey's final is available in our Gallery.

We would like to pass on our sympathy to Sussex Youth Player Ryan Sullivan who was disqualified from the Dutch Open youth after convincingly reaching the last eight of the tournament.  He was omitted from the competition because he had entered into the Men's tournament the day previous.  The opponents that Ryan beat in the youth were all reinstated into the competition where they played each other to see who progressed in his place where his first round opponent progressed though & eventually went on to win the boys youth.  We understand that rules are rules and that Ryan should not have been allowed to enter but to allow players back in who have already been beaten is not how a competition should be ran.

AM Darts would like to thank the Dutch Darts Organisation & Paul James for their hospitality and kindness over the weekend.  The team met some great people and also gained fantastic experience from this prestegious tournement.