Christopher Toonders and Dylan Slevin were victorious on Friday, in winning Winmau Development Tour Events 1 & 2 respectively, as the opening weekend of the PDC’s Youth Tour season commenced at the Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes.
A PDC Development Tour season sees players aged 16-24 compete across a number of weekends a year in a total of 24 events, with the top two players from the 2023 Order of Merit securing themselves a two-year PDC Tour Card for 2024/25 and a place at the 2023/24 World Darts Championship.
The opening event saw the German, Christopher Toonders pick up his maiden PDC title, as he reached the final firstly by recording victories against Joshua Poxon, Jamie Rooksby, Adam Dee, Keanen Norris, Thomas Banks, Luke Littler and Wessel Nijman, to set up a clash with fellow compatriot, Marvin Kraft.
The final began with four straight holds of throw between the pair, before Toonders took control, by winning three consecutive legs, including back-to-back 16 darters and sealing victory in leg seven with a 17 darter and a 5-2 victory to clinch the £2,500 1st prize.
In Event 2, Dylan Slevin was victorious, with the young Irish starlet reaching the final firstly by recording victories against Jacob Gwynne, Dylan Van Lierop, Jaikob Selby-Rivas, Daniel Perry, Daniel Jansen, Harry Gregory and Rusty-Jake Rodriguez, to set up a clash with Luke Littler.
The final began with four straight holds of throw between the pair, before Slevin broke Littler’s throw for the first time in leg five with a 15 darter, which was then followed up with a 12 dart hold of throw to move 4-2 ahead in a race to five.
Littler went on to win back-to-back legs in a total of 27 darts to force a deciding leg, in which he squandered two match darts and allowed Slevin to pounce, in which he did, to seal the victory in 16 darts and picking up a maiden PDC title having won a two-year Tour Card for the first time back at January’s Qualifying School.
PDC Winmau Development Tour weekend continues on Saturday, with Events 3 & 4 taking place in Milton Keynes, 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 1
Quarter Finals
Marvin Kraft 5-3 Owen Roelofs
Nathan Rafferty 5-2 Byron Garner
Christopher Toonders 5-3 Luke Littler
Wessel Nijman 5-3 Bradley Brooks
Semi Finals
Marvin Kraft 5-1 Nathan Rafferty
Christopher Toonders 5-3 Wessel Nijman
Final
Christopher Toonders 5-2 Marvin Kraft
Event 2
Quarter Finals
Luke Littler 5-4 Owen Roelofs
Tavis Dudeney 5-1 Cam Crabtree
Rusty-Jake Rodriguez 5-2 Reece Colley
Dylan Slevin 5-0 Harry Gregory
Semi Finals
Luke Littler 5-3 Tavis Dudeney
Dylan Slevin 5-3 Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
Final
Dylan Slevin 5-4 Luke Littler
—–Ends—–
Images: PDC
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