Darts, Beers, & Cheers!

Posts Tagged ‘European Darts Championships’

European Darts Championships – Last days Results and preview

A great day of darts yesterday, and a really busy one today.  The finalists will have to get through 3 games to claim the title and the cash today – so stamina will pay a part.

In the first game my loyalties come first – my man Jamie ‘Jabba’ Caven will be who I’m cheering on (while trying to stay neutral on the Bravo_darts twitter I am covering the games on!).  Jamie is an amazing player, and has overcome what lesser men would have given in to, becoming a star of the darts scene.  Jenkins has thrown off some of his recent poor form to get to the semi, but if Caven can play like he did yesterday, I think he’s got it in the bag.  Good luck today mate!

I’m split over the next semi – I’ve got Ronnie Baxter in my fantasy darts team over at The Stars of Darts forum… but Colin is another Gent of the game.  Colin has been playing really well too – while Baxter has been a little hot n cold.  I think Lloyd may just pinch it.

Taylor vs. Walsh.. what a game.  Walsh has played Taylor enough to know his game well, and hopefully not be scared of him.  It’s the king of the floor vs. the king of the TV tournaments…  could be a belter.  I think the Power will win though.

Barney vs. a TV confident Jones – another possible belter.  Wayne Jones like Mark Walsh is a master of the tungsten on the floor, but who has previously found the TV scene tough.  But this tournament that doesn’t seem to be an issue for him.   Close… but Barneveld to win I think – who knows, maybe a 9 darter too

Remember to follow the official @BRAVO_darts twitter for all the scores and more – especially as it’s me doing it, and I’ve been keeping off the ale to keep my spelling straight (ish) !!  There’s also a gallery here of images taken by Bravo – including some behind the scenes.

Quarter Finals

1.00pm Terry Jenkins 10-6 Jamie Caven
2.00pm Colin Lloyd 10-6 Ronnie Baxter
3.00pm Phil Taylor 10-4 Mark Walsh
4.00pm Raymond van Barneveld 8-10 Wayne Jones

Semi Finals

Evening session begins 7pm UK time, Order of play to be confirmed by toss of a coin

7.00pm Wayne Jones 11-10 Colin Lloyd
8.15 pm Phil Taylor 11-10 Terry Jenkins

The Final

Phil Taylor 11 – 1 Wayne Jones

Dave Gorman has been doing a sterling job – bringing darts to a new audience, and some cracking funny mini interviews.  He’s been blogging about it too; http://gormano.blogspot.com/2010/08/bravo-darts.html

The PartyPoker.net European Championship is being shown live on Sport1 in Germany and on Bravo in the UK – Bravo can be found at channel 123 on Sky and 136 on Virgin Media.

Prize Money

Winner – £50,000
Runner-Up – £20,000
Semi-Finals – £10,000
Quarter-Finals – £7,500
Last 16 – £5,000
Last 32 – £2,500

European Darts Championships – Saturday results

I’ve not got much time for a proper review… those will have to come tomorrow morning.  Saturday afternoon has seen some good darts.  Ronnie Baxter probably the highlight of the play, with some great scoring and doubles (100+ average).  Wayne Jones continues his good run on TV (about time!), with a win over Robert Thornton.

UPDATE: I’m so happy for Jamie ‘Jabba’ Caven – a fantastic win today, and it’s about time we saw him having a great TV tournament.

Saturday July 31
Second Round
Afternoon Session

Mark Walsh 10-6 Jelle Klaasen
Terry Jenkins 10-8 Simon Whitlock
Ronnie Baxter 10-9 Wes Newton
Wayne Jones 10-4 Robert Thornton

Evening Session

Barrie Bates 6-10 Jamie Caven
Raymond van Barneveld 10-7 Bernd Roith
Phil Taylor 10-5 Andy Smith
Colin Lloyd 10-6 Michael van Gerwen

All games the best of 19 legs

European Darts Championships – Day 3 Preview

Two sessions of darts on Bravo TV today, starting at 1pm and 7pm (UK Time, add 1 hour if you’re out in Germany).  There were a couple of shocks last night – with local German Roith going through.  I wonder if there will be any big name losses today.

There are 8 games in total, as we are now on the last 16… and the format is best of 19 legs (first to 10 if you’re still hungover!).

As per the last two nights, yours truly (Krispy) will be on the official @Bravo_darts twitter – so if you can’t get to a TV or don’t have the Bravo channel, follow along on twitter and you’ll know all the scores pretty much as they happen, plus some stats and random thoughts of mine   Also check out presenter Dave Gorman’s blog where he discusses teething problems and the scoreboard! http://gormano.blogspot.com/2010/07/bread-cheese-beer-and-darts.html

I love the Bravo themed board surround, something fun about it!

Afternoon Session

1.00pm Mark Walsh v Jelle Klaasen
2.00pm Terry Jenkins v Simon Whitlock
3.00pm Ronnie Baxter v Wes Newton
4.00pm Wayne Jones v Robert Thornton

Evening Session

7.00pm Barrie Bates v Jamie Caven
8.00pm Raymond van Barneveld v Bernd Roith
9.00pm Phil Taylor v Andy Smith
10.00pm Colin Lloyd v Michael van Gerwen

I myself can’t see Terry Jenkins beating Simon Whitlock – the Wizard will have too much for the Bull – esp as Germany seems to be the place for beard power!  I’m rooting for my mate Jamie Caven this evening – although I could never wish Barry Bates ill, he’s a real fun character of the game.  It  will be intresting to see how the crowd react to watching their own man Bernd Roith throw against Barney this evening – although I can’t see anything other than a win for  van Barneveld there.   Another re-match between Taylor and the Pieman – as it’s now first to 10 and slightly longer format I think it will be the power all the way there.  Game of the day could be Lloyd vs. van Gerwen – as Mighty Mike seemed to gain some confidence last night.

European Championship – Night Two Results

Some surprises tonight, with Bernd Roith beating the previously in form Denis Ovens.  Denis looked .. well out of it all game, and Roith was a worthy winner.

Also a great result from Mighty Mike van Gerwen.  After breaking his collarbone it’s some result to be winning a game of darts so soon.  He grew in confidence as the game went on.

I was disappointed with the performance from Adrian Lewis – it really wasn’t what we expect from a ‘potential world champion’.  He looked out of sorts and not on his game at all.  I think a 6-3 loss to Wayne Jones flattered him!

I know a lot of people will be pleased to see Colin Lloyd win – he’s a very popular player.   Beating James Wade must have given him some confidence for the rest of the tournament.  In the Osborne vs. Newton game Wes started well, and Osborne badly.. it was 3-0 pretty quickly to Newton.  But then Osborne found some inner strength and really put the pressure on Newton, taking it to 4-3 to Colin at one point.  Wes somehow got over his shock, and fought back to win 6-4, a close game!

Barney – well after a dodgy opening, he showed he’s still back – throwing some power darts at times, his silken smooth throw back to close to its best.  If Hamilton hadn’t been throwing big 180′s it wouldn’t have been such a close game.  Hamilton really does bang in those 60′s.

Ronnie Baxter had a real ding dong with Alan Tabern, and for a while it looked like the Saint would win… but Baxter took out an amazing 126 to win the final deciding leg.  Great exciting stuff.

PartyPoker.net European Championship
First Round
Play commences 8pm German time (7pm UK time)

Bernd Roith 6-4 Denis Ovens
Mark Dudbridge 4-6 Robert Thornton
Adrian Lewis 3-6 Wayne Jones
Tomas Seyler 4-6 Michael van Gerwen
James Wade 4-6 Colin Lloyd
Raymond van Barneveld 6-5 Andy Hamilton
Colin Osborne 4-6 Wes Newton
Ronnie Baxter 6-5 Alan Tabern

Euro Champs – Tonight’s order of play on Bravo TV

Well the feedback I’ve seen and had from last night’s Bravo TV coverage of the PDC European Darts Championships has been very positive.  Yeah there were some technical glitches – but Dave Gorman was the first to admit the scoreboard needs SORTING for tonight.

Otherwise the fans were on the whole well behaved (apart from one or two), commentators on the ball, and the lack of adverts during games, combined with interviews after the matches made it a great night of darts.

If you’re not out on the beers, don’t forget the action continues again tonight!  And/or follow on twitter for updates during the games; http://twitter.com/BRAVO_darts

Euro Champs Friday July 30

First Round
Play commences 7pm UK time – on BRAVO!

Game times are APPROXIMATE!

7.00pm Bernd Roith v Denis Ovens
7.30pm Mark Dudbridge v Robert Thornton
8.00pm Adrian Lewis v Wayne Jones
8.30pm Tomas Seyler v Michael van Gerwen
9.00pm James Wade v Colin Lloyd
9.30pm Raymond van Barneveld v Andy Hamilton
10.00pm Colin Osborne v Wes Newton
10.30pm Ronnie Baxter v Alan Tabern

European Championships – Night 1 results and review

Phew what a night – as Bravo TV televised their very first ever darts tournament.  While there was some technical hitches (new hamsters needed on the computer scoreboard me thinks!!), the coverage overall was very good I thought.  Some experienced pundits and commentators, with a style that I thought was very good (a little less excitable than Sky’s coverage perhaps?).

Loved seeing Chris Mason back on the screens, and Alan WL always does a good job too.

The biggest surprise for me was when I received a text message from Bravo TV asking if I’d run their twitter account for the night, as they weren’t able to do it this evening (normal service should be back tomorrow).  So apologies if my constant score updates and player comments were not to your cup of tea    It was good fun anyway.

Also I was jumping up and down as the first question put to a player was mine, and my name was read out by Dave Gorman – haha, fame at last!

Anyway – onto the evenings results, and remember it all carries on tomorrow night from 7pm on Bravo TV.  Follow their twitter if you can’t watch some/all of the games to keep track of the evenings games.

Thursday July 29
First Round
Paul Nicholson 3-6 Andy Smith
Mark Walsh 6-3 Antonio Alcinas
Terry Jenkins 6-4 Andree Welge
Simon Whitlock 6-3 Dennis Priestley
Gary Anderson 2-6 Jamie Caven
Phil Taylor 6-2 Co Stompe
Jelle Klaasen 6-4 Vincent van der Voort
Mervyn King 3-6 Barrie Bates

Personal highlights for me is my mate Jamie Caven winning through to round 2 – although it was a shame to see Gary Anderson still suffering with a dodgy shoulder.

Euro Stars Head To Germany – Watch on Bravo Tonight

PHIL TAYLOR opens his challenge for a third successive PartyPoker.net European Championship title on Thursday, when he takes on Co Stompe as the £200,000 tournament begins in Dinslaken, Germany.

UPDATE: I’m actually sitting in for Bravo on their twitter tonight – as a z list celebrity darts ‘guru’ – follow me and Bravo here; https://twitter.com/BRAVO_Darts for game by game comments and analysis.

Taylor has lifted the European Championship trophy in each of the past two years since the tournament was launched in 2008.

The world number one travels to the Stadthalle in Dinslaken on a high after winning his 11th World Matchplay last Sunday, as he seeks to win a fourth major title inside three months.

“Winning the World Matchplay was great and I’d love to go on and win the European Championship this weekend,” said Taylor. “I’m feeling great and playing well, and winning this would round off a perfect summer.”

Taylor takes on Co Stompe in the first round, with the Dutchman having defeated him in the 2008 German Darts Championship final.

“Co has done brilliantly in the last couple of years and he played superbly when he won the German Darts Championship, but that was a different day,” added Taylor.

“I put it behind me and so has Co, and we’ve played a few times since. He did well in the World Matchplay last week and I know he’ll want that to continue in Germany.”

Stompe followed that German Darts Championship victory with two World Championship quarter-final appearances, as well as winning a Players Championship a month ago and reaching the last eight in Blackpool.

“The win over Phil is in the past and you can’t dwell on that because it’s history,” said Stompe. “It’s a new game on Thursday and I’ve got a hard game against Phil.

“I’ve turned my game around, because I’ve been practising on my doubles and they went alright in Blackpool but my scoring let me down.

“I know I can play better than I did in Blackpool, and I’ll go up there on Thursday and hopefully give Phil a big fight.”

The tournament’s opening night will also feature a clash between two of the sport’s fastest throwers, Jelle Klaasen and Vincent van der Voort.

The Dutch pair have both enjoyed strong form in 2010, while Klaasen – a European Championship semi-finalist last year – reached the quarter-finals of last week’s World Matchplay with a slightly slower throwing style.

“I tried to slow down and it felt good,” he said. “I’m always trying to improve my game and I’ve tried something new on stage now, and I played well.

“I think I’ll try to play slower now in every tournament. It will be a hard match to play against Vincent because we travel all the time and are good friends, but when we get on stage we’re enemies and want to beat each other 6-0.”

The players ranked fourth and fifth in the world, Mervyn King and Terry Jenkins, have an opportunity to bounce back from first round exits in the World Matchplay when they face Barrie Bates and Germany’s Andree Welge respectively.

Simon Whitlock, the Australian who has jumped to eighth in the PDC Order of Merit following his run to the semi-finals of the World Matchplay, takes on two-time World Champion Dennis Priestley on his European Championship debut.

The tournament will open when Paul Nicholson, January’s totesport.com Players Championship Finals winner, faces Andy Smith – who had minor surgery on a leg injury a week ago but has previously won a Players Championship on the Dinslaken stage.

Gary Anderson, the UK Open finalist who has been troubled by a shoulder injury in recent weeks and lost to Klaasen in Blackpool, meets Jamie Caven, and number eight seed Mark Walsh faces Spanish debutant Antonio Alcinas.

World number two Raymond van Barneveld – who hit a nine-darter in the World Matchplay before losing to Taylor in the final – takes on Andy Hamilton on the second night of play, while number three seed James Wade faces Colin Lloyd.

German pair Tomas Seyler and Bernd Roith are in action on home soil, with Roith taking on Denis Ovens on his televised debut while Seyler meets Michael van Gerwen – the Dutch youngster who has been sidelined for the past month with a broken collarbone.

The PartyPoker.net European Championship is being shown live on Sport1 in Germany and on Bravo in the UK – Bravo can be found at channel 123 on Sky and 136 on Virgin Media.

Dave Gorman and James Richardson are presenting, and @bravo_darts and the Official European Championship Facebook page, will be hubs for interviews, scores, photos and behind-the-scenes information.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/European-Professional-Darts-Championships-2010-BRAVO/136193336412159?ref=ts

Bravo Euro Darts Trailer – Coverage starts TONIGHT!

Bravo TV’s very first televised darts starts TONIGHT (Thursday) – and they’ve released a promo trailer to get you in the mood.   It features Dave Gorman, who will be appearing throughout the coverage – as a ‘minister without portfolio’ – which I think means he’s going to sum up the action in ways that non hard-core darts fans can understand.  Possibly while being funny

Thursday July 29
First Round
Play commences 8pm German time (7pm UK time)
8.00pm Paul Nicholson v Andy Smith
8.30pm Mark Walsh v Antonio Alcinas
9.00pm Terry Jenkins v Andree Welge
9.30pm Simon Whitlock v Dennis Priestley
10.00pm Gary Anderson v Jamie Caven
10.30pm Phil Taylor v Co Stompe
11.00pm Jelle Klaasen v Vincent van der Voort
11.30pm Mervyn King v Barrie Bates

The rest of the schedule of play is below the video, and remember to follow the official facebook page here, and on twitter here.  I’ll be twittering throughout the tournament I’m sure – and some of the time it might make some sense!  Follow me here.

NOTE: If the trailer doesn’t play below – try clicking on the ‘HD is on’  link on the screen – it seemed to kick it into action.

Schedule of Play

Friday July 30
First Round
Play commences 8pm German time (7pm UK time)
8.00pm Bernd Roith v Denis Ovens
8.30pm Mark Dudbridge v Robert Thornton
9.00pm Adrian Lewis v Wayne Jones
9.30pm Tomas Seyler v Michael van Gerwen
10.00pm James Wade v Colin Lloyd
10.30pm Raymond van Barneveld v Andy Hamilton
11.00pm Colin Osborne v Wes Newton
11.30pm Ronnie Baxter v Alan Tabern

Read the rest of this entry »

Behind the scenes images; Phil Taylor filming Bravo Trailer

My friends at Bravo TV, who will be televising the European Darts Championships next Thursday onwards, have released some cracking images of Phil Taylor being filmed for their TV trailers.

I’ve been given permission to snaffle a few – you can view the rest here on Bravo’s new facebook page just for the Euro Championships.  I believe Bravo will be running a great competition soon – to win some great darts stuff signed by some of Europe’s greatest players - follow em on twitter to make sure you find out how to enter!

Dave Gorman – Interview with Bravo TV’s Euro champs presenter

While we all enjoy the World Match Play from Blackpool, don’t forget that Bravo TV will be showing the European Championship of Darts next week (more info here; runs Thurs 29th August – Sun 1st August).  Bravo are promising to bring something new to darts tournaments – a fresh new approach.  You can find the draw and format of play HERE.

To celebrate Bravo bringing the darts to the masses, I have an exclusive interview with one of their presenters; Dave Gorman, stand up comedian, writer, and TV & Radio personality (I’m sure he has a personality off TV and Radio too!).

Over to Dave, and as they always say to comedians… “say something FUNNY!”

See Phil 'The Power' Taylor and Dave 'The Badger' Gorman on Bravo TV's Coverage of the Euro Darts Championships

Dave Gorman Interview

Q.  Some of your less obsessive fans may not realise that you are a bit of a darts nut.  When did that start, and what got you into darts?

I followed darts as a kid. I used to love John Lowe. We were gathered round the telly watching as he hit his 9 dart finish and we were watching when Keith Deller won in 1983 too. We used to love it. My twin brother had a dartboard in his room and we used to play a fair amount. Like kids taking a sudden interest in tennis during Wimbledon I’m sure the board took a hell of a pounding during and shortly after the World Championships and then lay relatively fallow for months. I followed it off and on since but with the touring I was doing a few years ago it was impossible. I used to be away from home for 8 or 9 months of the year so I’d never subscribe to Sky Sports of anything like it because it always seemed so extravagant for the amount of viewing I’d get out of it but then I stopped touring for a while and got my TV set up and found darts was one of the sports that I got even more into than before. But I still wasn’t playing. Then this year, as I was watching Simon Whitlock I realised how odd it was that I would watch this sport so avidly but not actually play it anymore. I mean it’s not exactly a difficult game to get into… so I went out and bought some darts.

Q.  How is your own game going?  What darts are in your wallet at the moment?

I’ve tried an embarrassingly large number of darts. But I come back to the same set and am going to settle on them. 22g Dum Dums (Unicorn) only with Phase 5 stems, slikstiks etc. I use extra strong flights too.
I was getting better and better and then I hit a slump. Most of my darts happens in my spare room and I’m not very disciplined so it’s very easy to spend time just hammering the 20s(or at least trying to) instead of any practice routines that would improve the rest of my game. I really need to take my game out of the spare room and play some other people. I’ve now hit 13 180s. The last 6 of them came in a period of 2 weeks… and then since then, nothing. I think I’d started to overthink my throw, believing that I’d got somewhere and I might be able to improve if I thought about every part of what I was doing and tried to make it more systematic. But I turned to cack. I tried different darts to see if I could loosen myself up and just throw them for a while… and it’s started to get better again. Not back to where I was by any means but better. And I’ve gone back to the Dum Dums.

Q.  How closely do you follow the professional darts, and do you have many players on speed-dial yet?

I’m not obsessive about it – I don’t have time to be. I follow it when I can. I’m not mates with any of the players. Just a fan from afar.

Q.  When I think of darts presenting, I have to admit your name didn’t jump out immediately – how did this gig with Bravo come about?

Well they’d know more about that than me but I think they decided they wanted to try darts on the channel and thought that as they’d never done it before they’d like to do something different with it. Someone must have told them that I like it – which isn’t hard to find out if you follow me on twitter or read my blog or whatever – and they thought that maybe getting me involved might be a good way of doing something new. Of course that remains to be seen as yet!

Q.  Are you doing any special preparation for your stint as darts presenter?  Any ‘Motty’ like stats cramming?

Nope. I don’t have time. And in all honesty I don’t think it’s my job. There’s a very professional anchor for the shows in the shape of James Richardson and there’s a professional team of commentators too. I’m more your minister without portfolio. I’m sure the hardcore darts fans will watch the show whoever is presenting. But I think there are other people out there who would love darts if it was made more accessible to them. I hope that by being honest about what I enjoy about it and by _showing_ that enjoyment some of those people will find their inner dart fan.

Q.  Any hot tips on who’s going to win or do well in the competition?

You’d always be mad to bet against Phil Taylor obviously but I think he’s drawn an interesting first round in Co Stompe. He’s had some form recently – they both came away from Vegas with a win – and in the shorter games in the opening rounds you never know. I think Andy Smith has an opportunity to do something against Paul Nicholson in the first round – that looks like an interesting one – but the field is full of people who can do it on the day. With so many first round matches that are hard to call, I wouldn’t dare try and pick a winner for the whole thing. Some of the European qualifiers are unknown to me but I guess Tomas Seyler has the best chance of getting through the first round as he’s got Michael van Gerwen. No disrespect to van Gerwen… but when he’s recovering from a broken collarbone he has to be vulnerable.

Q.  As any good sports presenter knows, you’re only as good as your clichés – have you got any catchphrases at the ready that you want to introduce into the darting vocabulary?

Not yet. Let’s see what happens.

Q.   What should be expect from Dave Gorman the sports presenter… Des Lynam on valium or Sid Waddell on poppers…  Or something on that sliding scale?

Just me. On caffeine.

Q.  After his short foray into darts commentary and punditry, are you worried about being “the poor mans Stephen Fry”?

There’s only one man on this earth who isn’t a poor man’s Stephen Fry and that’s Stephen Fry.

Well I think that the darts is in safe hands with Dave, and if the power goes down (in more ways than one) at this tournament, we won’t be short of other forms of entertainment.  Remember to tune into Bravo TV on Thursday 29th July (7pm?) to see the darting action from Germany. You can get inside info and gossip on twitter by following Bravo_darts .. or me!

You can find the Bravo channel on;

• Virgin Media: Channel 136
• Sky: Channel 123