Nijman and Rafferty Wrap Up Development Titles

Wessel Nijman and Nathan Rafferty were victorious on Saturday, in winning Development Tour Events 13 & 14 respectively, as the third weekend of the PDC’s Youth Tour season continued in Wigan.

Nijman, the winner of Event Eight back in May, went all the way once again, as he reached the final of Event 13 firstly by recording victories against Dominik Gruellich, David Schlichting, Moreno Blom, Jenson Walker, Felix Springer, Beau Greaves and Nathan Rafferty, to set up a clash with Germany’s Niko Springer.

The final began with Nijman racing into a 3-0 lead, with winning legs coming in 15, 19 and 18 darts respectively, before Springer ended the run by picking up his first leg of the tie with a 15 dart hold of throw in Leg Four. Nijman moved within one of victory in the following leg, with the Dutchman firing in a 112 checkout to move 4-1 ahead in a race to five. Springer did pull one leg back, before Nijman sealed the victory in Leg Seven with another 15 dart hold of throw to pick up a second Development Tour title of the year and a seventh of his career.

In Event 14, Nathan Rafferty, who had been competing in the European Darts Open a little over 24 hours prior, was victorious as he reached the final firstly by recording victories against James Buckby, Janek Hill, Justin Van der Velden, Jon-Sebastian Wright, Jake Fewell, Niko Springer and Wessel Nijman, to set up a clash with Dutchman Marvin Van Velzen.

Nothing separated the pair throughout the early stages of the final, with five straight breaks of throw, ending with Rafferty holding throw for the first time in Leg Six, which vitally saw the Northern Irishman move 4-2 ahead and within one of victory. Van Velzen did pull one leg back, before Rafferty sealed a 5-3 victory in Leg Eight with a 15 dart hold of throw to pick up a staggering 12^th Development Tour title of his career and a second of 2024.

PDC Winmau Development Tour weekend concludes on Sunday, with Events 15 taking place in Wigan, with play commencing at 10:00 BST, as all live scores and results can be viewed at tv.dartconnect.com.