Ryan Joyce Darts

Recap - Joyce Makes Players Championship Final

It has been a bumper week of darts for Team Mission with players in action on the Pro Tour, Development Tour and WDF circuit.

On Monday, Ryan Joyce enjoyed a run to the final of Players Championship 9 - narrowly losing out 8-6 to the world number two Michael Smith in the decider.

'Relentless' picked up wins against Keegan Brown, Nick Kenny, Raymond van Barneveld, Dave Chisnall and Chris Dobey on his way to the last four, where he got the better of Ritchie Edhouse 7-4 in an all-Mission semi-final.

'Madhouse' continued his recent good form since switching to the Mission Force 90 integrated flight and stem system, throwing three 95+ averages on his way to a first semi-final of the season.

On Tuesday, Graham Hall impressed with a semi-final run in Players Championship 10 - his best result since joining the PDC tour.

'G-Man' saw off Monday's title winner Smith 6-3 in the last 16, before edging past Danny Noppert 6-5 in the quarter-finals to break even further ground. His run ended in the last four with a 7-5 defeat to Brendan Dolan, who went on to win the title.

The midweek action in Hildesheim concluded with the tour card holder qualifiers for ET7 and ET8 on Wednesday.

Madars Razma was in fine form as he qualified for the Dutch Darts Championship (ET7) later this month, beating Thibault Tricole, Benjamin Drue Reus and Edhouse to book his spot in the European Tour event in Rosmalen.

Meanwhile, Dylan Slevin caught the eye in the ET8 qualifier, striking perfection with a nine-dart leg to win his third-round match against Cameron Menzies. The Irishman's bid to qualify for next month's European Darts Open fell short in the final round after losing 6-3 to Jeffrey de Graaf in the final round.

Ahead of the ProTour action at the start of this week, the second installment of the Development Tour season took place in Hildesheim with Events 6-10 over the weekend.

There was an all-Mission final in Event 6 on Friday, as Roman Benecky faced off against Thomas Banks. It was Benecky who came out on top 5-4 in a deciding leg to win his first Development Tour title, whilst Viktor Tingstrom and Cam Crabtree both made the quarter-finals of the opening event of the weekend.

Wessel Nijman stole the show on Saturday with a record-breaking performance in the final to win Event 8. The Dutchman threw a 113.03 average in his 5-4 victory over Niko Springer, which set a new record for the highest average in a Development Tour final (in the DartConnect era).

Nijman followed up his sixth career Development Tour title with a run to the semi-finals of Event 9, which leaves him in third place on the Order of Merit after the first two weekends of the campaign.

Elsewhere, Connor Scutt secured a return to the Lakeside after winning the gold WDF ranked Denmark Open on Saturday.

'The Sniper' won through a field of more than 300 players in Ejsberg, clinching the title with a 98 average in a 6-1 win against Jimmy van Schie in the final. The title has given Scutt an automatic spot in the 2024 WDF World Championships in December.

Rhian O'Sullivan just missed out on defending her Denmark Masters women's title, as she was piped 5-4 in a decider by Beau Greaves in the final.

The 2023 champion showed some great form in her title defence, posting averages of 85, 88, 93, 92 and 93 on her way to a showdown with the world number one Greaves.

Archie Self also continued his good form winning a pair of titles in the ADC's The Vault 7.0 on back-to-back days. The 14-year-old was victorious in tournaments held in Basingstoke and Newbury on Monday and Tuesday, which has moved him up to eighth in the South East & London rankings.
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