Mission Recap – Nijman Breaks New Ground On The Euro Tour

Mission Recap – Nijman Breaks New Ground On The Euro Tour

Wessel Nijman is closing in on the world’s top 40 after reaching his first two semi-finals on the PDC European Tour.

The 24-year-old, who only joined the PDC main tour at the start of last year, made the final four in both the Dutch Darts Championship and European Darts Open over the last two weekends.

The young Dutchman’s previous best run on the European Tour had been a pair of quarter-finals, but he broke new ground in his home event in Rosmalen, beating Berry van Peer (6-5), Peter Wright (6-1), Dirk van Duijvenbode (6-5) and Ryan Searle (6-1), before losing 7-3 to Niko Springer.

In the same event, the reigning European champion Ritchie Edhouse also made the final day of action, winning through two last-leg deciders against Kim Huybrechts and Dave Chisnall before bowing out to Willie O’Connor (6-3) in the last 16.

This past weekend, Nijman reached another semi-final on the PDC stage, as he racked up wins over Brendan Dolan (6-3), Gary Anderson (6-4), Peter Wright (6-4) and Stephen Bunting (6-5), the last of them won with a 109 finish in the deciding leg.

Nijman’s run in Leverkusen ended in a nail-biting 7-6 defeat to the eventual champion Nathan Aspinall, with the Dutchman averaging 99 and his opponent 103 in victory.

Mike De Decker and Edhouse were also involved in the final day of the European Darts Open yesterday. De Decker averaged 101 in a 6-3 win over Ryan Joyce in an all-Mission second-round tie, whilst Edhouse posted a 102 average in his last 32 triumph against Danny Noppert (6-2). The pair both bowed out in the last 16.

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Teenager Peyton Hammond caught the eye this past weekend with a run to the quarter-finals in the WDF-gold ranked Toronto Area Open on Saturday.

The 16-year-old’s run in the men’s singles saw him pick up an impressive 4-3 win over Alex Spellman in the last 16, before he was beaten 4-2 by Jeff Springer Jr in the last eight.

In a busy weekend of events in Toronto, Hammond also made a pair of finals in the early bird 301 on Friday and the men’s cricket doubles on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Kayla Smith won her first WDF ranking title with a victory in the under-23 girls event at the Toronto Area Open.

The 20-year-old defeated America’s Aaja Jalbert 4-1 in the final, reeling off three straight legs from 1-1 to clinch the title.

Elsewhere, Francesco Basili made two deep runs in the WDF youth events in Switzerland. The 17-year-old reached the final of the Helvetia Open and the quarter-finals of the Swiss Open.

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Jake Hobbs claimed a pair of titles on the JDC Foundation Tour at the weekend to finish in third place in the final rankings.

The 15-year-old, who had already bagged two titles earlier on in the season, secured his third event win of the campaign by lifting the Event 17 title on Saturday.

Hobbs posted a trio of 85+ averages on his way to the title, whilst Addison Hefferon and Ethan Baines made strong starts to the weekend with runs to the quarter-finals.

Recent Mission Academy signing Alfie O’Flynn Rogers was the top performer in Event 18 as he made the quarter-finals, before Hobbs capped off the weekend in style by winning Event 20.

Hobbs was one of three Mission players to earn a tour card to play on the JDC Advanced Tour next year, with Baines (sixth) and Hefferon (eighth) also joining him after finishing in the top eight of the rankings.

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Thomas Banks defeated Adam Mould 8-5 to become the new holder of the ADC English Title.

The 18-year-old beat the defending champion Mould at the recent ADC Undisputed event at Bradmoor Farm, and is now one title defence away from securing a place at the ADC Global Championship at the end of the year.

Picture: Jenny Segers/PDC Europe

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