Nathan Rafferty and Jurjen Van de Velde, aka ‘The Bagel Boy’, were victorious on Friday, in winning Development Tour Events 6 & 7 respectively, as the second weekend of the PDC’s Youth Tour season commenced at the Robin Park Tennis Centre, Wigan.
Rafferty, who reached the final at last year’s World Youth Championship, picked up his first title of the year, as he dropped just eight legs on route to the final, after recording victories over Jaikob Selby-Rivas, Chris Birch, Jack Male, Sebastian Bialecki, Jacob Gwynne, Rusty-Jake Rodriguez and Jarred Cole, to set up a clash with fellow Tour Card Holder, Lewy Williams.
The final began with Williams racing into a 2-0 lead with winning legs in 12 and 17 darts, before Rafferty halved the deficit in leg 3 with a 17 darter of his own. Williams took the following leg in 15 darts, before Rafferty stormed into the lead, in winning three on the spin to go within one of victory, with Williams needing to win back-to-back legs, without fail, to keep his title hopes alive. The Welsh youngster forced a decider with a 14 darter, before going on to miss two match darts, with Rafferty sealing the victory with an 18 darter to take the title and pick up a 5th Development Tour crown of his career.
In Event 7, it was Jurjen Van de Velde who was victorious, after the Dutch Teenager dropped just 12 legs on route to the decider, after recording victories over Fransy Kalis, James Roach, Robert Kef, Liam Blakeley, Nathan Girvan, Dylan Slevin and Justin Van Tergouw, to set up a clash with fellow Dutchman, Geert Nentjes.
The final began with Van de Velde racing into a incredible 4-0 lead, looking to live up to his nickname, with winning legs coming in 23,13, 19 and 19 darts respectively, with Nentjes needing to win five straight legs to keep his title hopes alive. The Dutchman did pull a leg with a 16 darter, before ‘Team 360’ star Van de Velde sealed the victory in the following leg, with a 15 darter to take the title and a 2nd Development Tour crown of his career.
PDC Winmau Development Tour weekend continues on Saturday, with Events 8 & 9 taking place in Wigan, with play commencing at 10:30 BST, as all live scores and results can be viewed at tv.dartconnect.com.
PDC Winmau Development Tour
Event 6
Quarter Finals
Geert Nentjes 5-2 Jurjen Van der Velde
Lewy Williams 5-2 Nathan Girvan
Jarred Cole 5-2 Christopher Holt
Nathan Rafferty 5-3 Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
Semi Finals
Lewy Williams 5-4 Geert Nentjes
Nathan Rafferty 5-1 Jarred Cole
Final
Nathan Rafferty 5-4 Lewy Williams
Event 7
Quarter Finals
Geert Nentjes 5-3 Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
Nathan Rafferty 5-3 Lewy Williams
Jurjen Van de Velde 5-2 Dylan Slevin
Justin Van Tergouw 5-2 Maikel Verberk
Semi Finals
Geert Nentjes 5-4 Nathan Rafferty
Jurjen Van de Velde 5-2 Justin Van Tergouw
Final
Jurjen Van de Velde 5-1 Geert Nentjes
—–ENDS—–
Images: PDC
