It was a sunshine weekend at Pontin’s Brean Sands for the BDO International Open – both weatherwise and darts-wise!
On the oche, Little Richard Ashdown made an impressive debut when he presented the finals in his role as MC for the finals of his first ever BDO tournament.
But before that, darts history was made when Claire Stainsby and Glen Durrant recorded the first ever 9-Dart 501 in Mixed Pairs competition. They went on to be eventual runners-up to Garry Thompson and Deta Hedman who won the 2013 Mixed Pairs title.
To complete a memorable weekend, Claire and Glen won the Mixed Triples with Tony Eccles.
In the Youth Singles Semi-Finals, the very impressive 14 year-old JORDAN SINGH beat JOE DAVIS 3-1 , and 16 year-old CASEY GALLAGHER, , the only girl in the Youth Singles triumphed 3-2 over JOSH McCARTHY to reach the final.
And what a final it turned out to be was for young Jordan who hit a 180 in the 1st leg and then checked out on 116. Another 180 came in the 4th leg as he was eventually crowned 2013 Youth Singles Champion 3-1.
A real talent for the future of darts.
In the Women’s Singles Semi-Finals the in- form DETA HEDMAN beat Welsh favourite JULIE GORE 4-2 and TRINA GULLIVER beat RACHEL BROOKS 4-1 to set up an exciting final.
In the final, Deta hit a 180 in the 2nd leg and had 81 left after 9 darts, but the doubles deserted her. However, Trina had to wait for her first 180 until the 7th leg when Deta was 4-2 up. The Dark Destroyer eventually retained her 2012 BDO International Open title with a 5-2 win.
In the Men’s Singles the only Dutchman left in the competition, JAN DEKKER beat Scotland’s JOHN GOLDIE 5-3 in the Semi-Finals, and reigning Lakeside World Champion SCOTT WAITES raced into another major final with a 5-1 Semi-Final triumph over JAMIE HUGHES.
In the final, Scott’s high-scoring form deserted him as Jan powered into a 3-0 lead, but with a brilliant 124 checkout Scott made it 3-1 and then hit a 180 in the next only to see it matched by Jan who went 4-1 up and then 5-1 before Scott pulled in back to 5-3.
But it was too little too late as the rampant Double-Dekker went on to win the final 6-3 in convincing style.
2013 BDO INTERNATIONAL OPEN CHAMPIONS:
Mixed Triples: GLEN DURRANT, CLAIRE STAINSBY & TONY ECCLES
Mixed Pairs: GARRY THOMPSON & DETA HEDMAN
BLIND DRAW PAIRS WOMEN: SYL SMART & SARAH CHICK
BLIND DRAW PAIRS MEN: NOBBY MORRIS & PAUL BROWN
2013 BDO INTERNATIONAL OPEN
SINGLES CHAMPIONS:
MEN: JAN DEKKER (Neth)
WOMEN: DETA HEDMAN (Eng)
YOUTH: JORDAN SINGH
