Nijman Wins Again On Development Tour

Recap - Nijman Wins Again On Development Tour

Team Mission’s Wessel Nijman took his career tally of Development Tour titles to seven after winning Event 13 in Wigan on Saturday.

The Dutchman battled through a field of 250+ players at the Robin Park Tennis Centre to claim his second title of the season, beating Niko Springer 5-2 in the final to clinch the £2,500 top prize.

The 23-year-old whitewashed Friday’s Event 11 champion Beau Greaves 5-0 in the quarter-finals, before coming back from 4-2 down to beat Nathan Rafferty 5-4 in the last four, winning three straight legs in 15, 15 and 14 darts to advance to the final.

Nijman took out a pair of 112 finishes and a match-winning 142 checkout to get the better of Germany’s Springer in the final, with this latest success moving him up to second on the Order of Merit.

The third weekend of the Development Tour season saw a large contingent of Team Mission players in action, including Viktor Tingstrom, who caught the eye with a run to the semi-finals of Event 12.

Nijman also made the final four of Friday’s second event, before going all the way the next day to win Event 13, and then reaching another semi-final in Event 14 to edge closer to top spot of the rankings.

On Sunday, Tavis Dudeney and Dominik Gruellich enjoyed runs to the semi-finals of Event 15, and both narrowly missed out on the final after losing in last-leg deciders.

Teenager Francesco Basili made his Development Tour debut at the weekend and reached the last 32 of Event 12. The 16-year-old pocketed £350 across the five events.

Meanwhile, Ritchie Edhouse and Dylan Slevin both tasted first-round success at the European Darts Open in Leverkusen on Friday.

The pair received late invites to the European Tour event following several player withdrawals, with Slevin coming through a tight contest 6-4 against Jamie Hughes and Edhouse whitewashing host nation qualifier Jan Dueckers 6-0.

On Saturday, Slevin pushed world number two Michael van Gerwen close in a 6-4 defeat, whilst Edhouse was beaten 6-3 by Peter Wright.

The Dutch Darts Championship winner Josh Rock kicked off his campaign with a 6-3 win against Dimitri Van den Bergh, closing out his second-round victory with a 160 checkout.

The next day Rock posted another 100+ average but was pipped to the post in a deciding leg by Ross Smith, who would go on to reach the final on Sunday night.

Elsewhere, Rhian O’Sullivan and Llew Bevan were part of a dominant weekend for Wales at the Six Nations Cup.

O’Sullivan successfully defended her women’s singles title after edging out Noa-Lynn van Leuven 5-4 in the final.

The Welsh captain was also part of her country’s victory in the women’s team event, as they defeated England 5-4 in a closely fought final on Sunday night.

Bevan helped Wales to the men’s team title as well, beating an England team, which included Cam Crabtree, 13-9 in the decider.

Over in Hungary, Balasz Szotak won the Balaton Darts Classic youth title at the weekend.

The 14-year-old beat Gergo Petracs 4-1 in the final to win the title and move up to third in the WDF boys rankings.

In the men's events, Matthew Edgar climbed into the top 32 in the WDF rankings after a run to the semi-finals of the Balaton Darts Classic.

Edgar also reached the quarter-finals of the Balaton Darts Masters on the same weekend as he edges closer to a debut at the Lakeside in December.

Teenager Andras Borbely also caught the eye with a run to the last eight of the Balaton Darts Classic, with the 18-year-old losing out 4-2 to Edgar in their quarter-final clash.

Pictures: Jonas Hunold/PDC Europe

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