Mission Recap - Borbély wins all-Mission final in Malta

Mission Recap - Borbély wins all-Mission final in Malta

András Borbély doubled his WDF senior ranking title tally after beating Thomas Junghans in an all-Mission final of the Malta Open on Sunday.

The 20-year-old opened his account with a victory on home soil in the Budapest Masters three years ago, and added to his title collection with a 5-3 triumph against fellow Team Mission player Junghans in the Malta Open decider at the weekend.

Junghans, who was appearing in his second WDF ranking final of the year, also reached the last 16 of the Malta Masters on the same weekend.

The previous weekend saw several Mission players competing in the Killarney Darts Festival, including Joe Croft, who caught the eye with a run to the quarter-finals of the Irish Open.

Croft’s run featured a 4-1 victory against the number one seed James Beeton in the last 32, before averaging 95 in a narrow 4-3 defeat to the eventual champion David Davies in the last eight.

In the same tournament, Daniel Stephenson enjoyed a run to the last 16, while in the youth events the 17-year-old reached the semi-finals of the Irish Open and the quarter-finals of the Irish Classic.

Jack Caulfield made a pair of last 16 runs in the singles events (Irish Classic youth and Killarney Open), while in the ladies events Robyn Byrne got to the final of the Killarney Open, the quarter-finals of the Irish Classic and the last 16 of the Irish Open.

Byrne then returned to the winners’ circle this past weekend with a victory in the Mayo Open.

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Wessel Nijman has broken into the top 32 in the world following his run to the last 16 of the Grand Slam of Darts last week.

The Dutchman defeated Josh Rock (5-4) and Lisa Ashton (5-0) to finish second in Group F, before his campaign in Wolverhampton ended in a 10-4 defeat to the eventual winner Luke Littler.

Development Tour number one Cam Crabtree impressed on his Grand Slam debut, beating multi-time major winner Jonny Clayton 5-1 with a 102 average in his opening game in Group H.

‘Shazam’ then averaged 95 in a narrow 5-4 defeat to Danny Noppert in his second group game, before losing 5-1 to Lukas Wenig in a winner-goes-through group decider.

The 2024 Grand Slam runner-up Martin Lukeman finished bottom of Group B after defeats to Damon Heta, Jurjen van der Velde and Chris Dobey.

Team Mission will have nine players competing in the Players Championship Finals in Minehead this weekend.

Former major winner Ritchie Edhouse takes on Stephen Bunting in the first round, with Lukeman facing Bradley Brooks and James Hurrell going up against Clayton.

Mike De Decker and Crabtree meet in an all-Mission first-round tie, with Alan Soutar taking on Luke Woodhouse and the number two seed Nijman starting his campaign against fellow Dutchman Richard Veenstra.

Madars Razma starts off against Dirk van Duijvenbode and Ryan Joyce, a semi-finalist in Minehead two years ago, faces Dave Chisnall.

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Yorick Hofkens gained plenty of admirers during his debut appearance in the PDC Europe Super League earlier this month.

The 18-year-old won eight of his 10 group games to advance to the knockout stages, where his run continued with a 6-4 victory against Andree Welge.

On the final day, Hofkens’ Ally Pally bid was halted by the eventual champion Arno Merk, who averaged just under 100 in a closely-fought 6-4 success over the Mission Academy star.

Archie Self has caught the eye already on his MODUS Super Series debut this week, finishing second in Group A yesterday.

The reigning WDF boys’ world champion, who turned 16 on Monday, won nine of his 15 matches in the group and averaged 102 in his debut match on Monday against Jim Mayer.

Ahead of his Super Series debut, Self reached the semi-finals in the ADC UK & Ireland Classic and the Money In, Money Out Knockout events at the weekend.

Thomas Banks and Jack Tweddell both made the last 16 in the ADC Vault National Finals on the same weekend, with Tweddell also reaching the last eight in the UK & Ireland Classic.

A busy weekend of darts also saw Daniel Stephenson win the Cue Club Open in Coventry after defeating Nigel Heydon 5-3 in the final.

Ethan Baines made the last four in the same event, dropping just two legs in the round robin before losing out to Heydon 4-1 in the semi-finals.

Jack Marshall got back to winning ways with a victory in a Vault Break event at Bradmoor Farm. The teenager’s top average came in the quarter-finals with an 89.96 average in a 4-1 win over Liam Earwicker.

Picture: PDC Europe

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