Jurjen Van der Velde returned to the big time on Friday afternoon as he was in attendance for the
2024 UK Open in Minehead. The 21-year-old was down in the South-West for the third time in his
career having built up a wealth of experience on the PDC Pro Tour.
His match with fellow Dutchman Jeffrey de Zwaan was picked for the TV stage, with the two competing in front of the thousands in attendance.
It would be a back and forth battle with Van der Velde breaking throw in the third leg to put his
opponent on the back foot. A 102 checkout added to De Zwaan’s misery before the former World
Matchplay semi-finalist got firing. Back-to-back 14-darters to it to a tenth leg where ‘The Black
Cobra’ would hold his nerve and close out the win.
There was an impressive 90 average for Cayden Smith at county level, and an ADC Vault final for Cori Wiltshire in Bath as he continued to put in some eye-catching performances. He defeated fellow JDC starlet Shoey Ayres in the semi-finals before averaging 86 in his final clash with Gary Barney,
unfortunately it would not be enough as Barney’s timing proved crucial in securing the win on the
night.
This year the JDC Advanced Tour is stronger than ever, but it still proved to be a happy hunting
ground for our Team360 players with a couple of wins and several strong performances throughout
the weekend.
The opening event of the JDC season saw Aiden O’Hara go all the way to the final on his return to
Coventry. The Irish youngster progressed through the ranks at the JDC Cadets before making the
Team360 switch, several high 80’s averages earned him a final spot on Saturday.
It would be strong opening weekend for Nico Bado as he recorded a quarter-final, semi-final and a
final finish in the third event of the weekend. The Gibraltarian international showed patience and
nerve to see off advanced tour regular Daniel Stephenson in event three but losing out to Jack
Nankervis in the final. South-West based Nankervis was on fire throughout the weekend and can
count himself unlucky not to have recorded a couple more deep runs to go alongside his tour event
win.
Ryan Branley has been making a name for himself in the North-East of England and continued to
shine on his advanced tour debut. After narrowly losing out to Stephenson in event two, he would
go one step further in the final event of the weekend, reversing the scoreline against Tergel
Khurelkhuu. The Mongolian is a leading light in the sport in his homeland and after collecting two
quarter-final, a semi-final and a final run, he is certainly one to keep an eye on.
Fresh off his big stage debut in Milton Keynes, Cayden Smith returned to the advanced tour full of
confidence. Having been a regular in the latter end of tournaments in 2023, Smith would string
together several high-quality performances to reach the final four of event four.
Away from the advanced tour action, Rebecca Allen was back in Ireland becoming the all-Ireland
girl’s champion! Having earlier won the youth pairs event, Allen would secure individual glory,
dropping just three legs en route to the title. There would also be a quarter-final run on the
inaugural JDC Girl’s Series for Hannah Meek as she lost out to weekend double winner Paige Pauling.
On the back of winning on his JDC Advanced Tour debut, Ryan Branley returned to the North=East a
feared man as he took on the Blutcher Open. Branley has been making a name for himself in his local area over the last year or so, and captured a win over PDC tour card holder Ryan Joyce in his
quarter-final clash. He would go on to defeat Andy Parks and then Davey Gradwell to claim the
trophy.
Adam Dee capitalised on a journey to Vienna by winning the WDF singles and under 23 pairs event in Austria. The maximums were flowing for the young Irishman who hit 180’s in every game he played! His standout performance came in a whitewash quarter-final win with an 86 average as Dee would later win the final 4-1.
Following an ADC Vault win days earlier, Dee would also capture the singles title in convincing
fashion. After recording several back-to-back whitewash wins he would squeeze past Bance Horvath
in a decider. He would be back to his dominant performances in the final, a 5-0 win over Peter
Keleman.
Cori Wiltshire and Fabian Tapner were in action on the JDC Foundation Tour as the roadshow came
to Scotland for the first time. Bristol based Wiltshire would reach two last 32’s on the opening day to
get his Foundation tour underway. Tapner had to be patient through the weekend, waiting until the
final event of the weekend to record his best result, a last 16 after defeating fellow Team360 star
Wiltshire.
There was local action for Cayden Smith and Jack Nankervis who both hit high averages, Smith
hitting an 89 before losing out in the next game with an 82 average. Nankervis raised the standard in his local comp by averaging an incredible 92, the youngster will be one to watch in the coming
months.
The women’s game has gone from strength the strength in the past 18 months and Team360 have
been proud to be a part of that with Rebecca Allen, Aurora Fochesato and Hannah Meek all leading
lights for Winmau. Italian talent Fochesato and Meek were both in attendance at the latest PDC
Women’s Series events.
Fochesato recorded a last 32 in the closing tournament of the weekend before losing out to fourtime world champion Lisa Ashton, despite an average of 74. The WDF girl’s champion had also
averaged over 60 ain four of her five wins throughout the weekend. Meek would record a win over
highly ranked Kim Holden and get a leg off of former World Championship quarter-finalist Laura
Turner during her weekend in MK.
The ADC Vault events have proved to be popular for our budding professionals and that was no
different this week. Cori Wiltshire recorded four wins from five in his group stage effort before going
on to reach the semi-finals, losing out 3-1 to an inspired Zak Turner.
Adam Dee would go a step further and reach a final, averaging in excess of 100 in one of his group
encounters. After several excellent knockout wins, including a 3-2 win over fellow junior ace Sean
McKeon, he would be defeated by the always dangerous Niall Culleton in the final.
14-year-old Team360 star Tergel Khurelkhuu reached the semi-finals of 10th International Capital
darts tournament in Beijing. Flooded with stars such as Royden Lam and Man Lok Leung, Tergel
more than held his own against his more experienced opponents.
There was also a Grand Prix semifinal outing for Jack Nankervis this week and an 86 average at Superleague for Connor Hopkins.
—–ENDS—–
Words & Images: Josh Green and Winmau
