Cayden Smith made the big stage at the 2024 PDC Masters as he took on Joseph Westby. The West
Midlander replaced former Super16 champion Luke Littler after ‘The Nuke’ plunged into the world’s
top 32 with his incredible run at Alexandra Palace. Despite being the late replacement Smith proved
more than a tough challenge to Westby, who needed four maximums amongst some clinical
doubling to see off Smith.
Newcastle native Ryan Branley has been impressing as of late and continued to do so at the
weekend, earning a whitewash win at senior county level. After winning a local tournament earlier in
the week, Branley would go seven darts into the perfect leg and hit maximums in dispatching former
Lakeside qualifier Ben Hazel.
With the first set of PDC Development Tours upon us and the JDC season about to get up and
running there will opportunities aplenty for our young stars to hone their craft as they progress up
the darting ladder.
This weekend marked the start of the 2024 JDC Foundation tour, an opportunity for young talents to
hone their skills ready for the advanced tour. After narrowly missing out on a spot in the top tier at
JDC Q-School, Rebecca would headline a packed field in Coventry.
She would be defeated by a rampant Callum Robinson in the opening tournament before etching her
first win in event two. The second day brought another win, this time over Stanley Taylor and the
young Irish talent will hope the build on her opening round wins next time out.
There is a host of Irish talent producing the goods at the moment, none more so that Adam Dee.
‘Dee one and only’ reached the quarter-finals of the ADC Irish Open, losing out to John O’Shea
before on local turf later in the week. Dee was also crowned Carlow sportsperson of the year by his
local newspaper!
Nathan Potter was part of a winning pairing as he and PDC tour card holder Ryan Meikle teamed up
to win the Suffolk Superleague pairs. They defeated Steff Morling and Stephen Burton the final four
before clinching the title with a win over Curtis Hammond and Paul Williams.
Jurjen Van der Velde kicked off his PDC season with a win over the reigning World Champion! After
suffering a narrow defeat to fellow Dutchman Vincent Van der Voort in the season opener he would
claim a major scalp in PC2. A 94 average was enough to see off the multiple-time major champion in
a huge upset for the Dutch youngster. Despite defeat in the following round, a win over the world
ranked number one will give him huge confidence going into the next round of Pro Tours.
Recent addition to Team360 Jack Nankervis made a winning debut in the ADC Vault series in
Redruth. Nankervis was a big hit in the JDC Cadet system before progressing to Team360 and is
beginning to find his feet in 2024. He defeated Gareth Griffiths with an 87 average to take his final
place and then replicated the performance to add to his ever-expanding trophy cabinet, doing so in
a nervy decider.
There was also a county win for Riley Rees-Tucker as he got off to a winning start in February and the pairing of Fabian Tapner and Hannah Meek sported their new Team360 shirts in reaching the
quarter-finals of a pairs event. There would also be a Vault quarter-final for Cori Wiltshire as he
continued to put the hours in on the Bristol darts scene.
The was a Team360 winner on the Development Tour as Jurjen Van der Velde claimed the spoils in
event four of the opening weekend in Milton Keynes. Prior to his victory the young Dutchman had
reached a pair of last 32’s before losing out to tour card holders in Gian Van Veen and Nathan
Rafferty.
Event four would be the time for young Jurjen to shine and after breezing through the early rounds
he would defeat two-time Women’s World Champion Beau Greaves to reach the last 16. 5-0 and 5-1
one wins would follow as he found himself in a final meeting with Leighton Bennett. He would have
the final all his own way, whitewashing the former JDC star to get off the mark in this year’s
Development Tour.
Fabian Tapner would reach his board final in the same event where Van der Velde was steaming
through the competition. Connor Hopkins got out of the opening round in four of the five events, his
only opening loss coming to Beau Greaves. The Welshman also secured a win over UK Open
debutant Jenson Walker.
There was a quarter-final run for the ever impressive Nathan Potter as he set about making his mark
on the Development Tour. He defeated Nathan Rafferty and Owen Maiden prior to losing a deciding
leg against Nathan Stephenson. Riley Rees-Tucker would reach his board final in event three, losing
out to former MODUS weekly winner Anton Ostlund.
Adding to the list of Team360 representatives in Milton Keynes were Cayden Smith, Keelan Kay and
Adam Dee. Smith reach the last 64 on the Saturday afternoon having earlier reach his board final on
the Friday. Irishman Dee would reach his board final in the opening event but this would be the
pinnacle of his weekend. There would be a last 16 run for South-West thrower Kay as he was
defeated by Gian Van Veen in event four, the Plymouth thrower also avoided defeat in four out of
his five opening matches at the weekend.
Away from the Development Tour there would be a quarter-final run in an ADC Vault event for
Hannah Meek and another win for new recruit Jack Nankervis. Team 360’s newest star went all the
way in his local vault even averaging over 100 in one of his group stage matches.
As featured in Brown’s Bar weekly, there would be a final appearance for Cori Wiltshire in the
Darts Asylum Open. After putting in some excellent display’s he was eventually defeated in the final
by an inspired John Brown. The final piece of news comes from Gibraltar, as Nico Bado clinched the
third Gibraltar ranking title of the season. This places him at the summit of the local youth rankings
and puts him in line to represent his country in the World and Europe Cups.
—–ENDS—–
Words and Images: Josh Green and Winmau
