Jack Nankervis is already making a name for himself on the exhibition scene, backing up some local competition wins with a 4-0 whitewash of PDC pro Ricky Evans. There was an England Grand Prix final for Hannah Meek, losing out to order of merit leader Paige Pauling in the final.
Fabian Tapner is edging back towards top form after collecting some win on the PDC Development Tour last weekend. He went all the way to the Southern County youth singles final as he continues his return to form.
The weekend also saw the latest qualifiers for the JDC World Championship and World Cup teams over in Ireland, with Team360 being represented by Aidan O’Hara and Rebecca Allen. The latter reached two last 16’s with steady darts throughout the weekend, with O’Hara jotting a
semi-final as he looks to head to Gibraltar.
As focus starts to turn towards the JDC World Championship for several of our stars, qualification and form were on their minds as we head into the so-called summer.
Adam Dee collected his first ADC Vault title of series eight at Barrow’s Lodge, continuing what has
been a fruitful period for the young Irishman. The feat was repeated by Cayden Smith at his outing in Kidderminster just 24 hours later, as got his tournament up and running with a solid round robin
performance. Having whitewashed Gavin Smith in the semis, Smith held his nerve against Daniel
Gallagher in the final to add another trophy to his collection. To round up the vault action, there was
a semi-final for Fabian Tapner as he returns to form.
It was a weekend double for our Irish duo as Aidan O’Hara collected another Irish Matchplay title. He
showed terrific resolve by squeezing through deciding legs with Jack Courtney and Shane Porter
before producing his bets darts in the final. A 79 average coupled with a 5-1 win ensuring more
success for ‘The Onion’.
The weekend also saw the play-offs for the England B team at the JDC World Cup as Cori Wiltshire
went within a leg of glory, unfortunate not to see out a win over Joseph Westby in a decider.
Our attention finally turns to Jack Nankervis and the JDC English Academy Masters. Jack has been a
leading light in the academy system in the last couple of years and produced a trademark display over the weekend. The South-West thrower hit the heights on a 90 average in the group stage before rampaging throughout the knockouts, dropping just one leg en route to the final. He would be tested by Daniel Stephenson in an 11-leg thriller, but came out on top to claim yet another JDC title.
Kai Tiffen continues his excellent run of form as the youngest member of Team360 continues to make waves in the sport. The youngster pushed a former champion all the way in local competition hitting two maximums in a 3-2 deciding leg loss. In the Smock Grand Prix Nathan Potter averaged over 100 to win the final 3-0 and there was also qualification for the Champion of Champions in Cardiff with a local win in midweek.
Aidan O’Hara reached the quarter-finals of the Europe Cup Youth pairs with partner Sean McKeon,
losing out to a strong German pair. O’Hara was also in competition in the singles, as was Wales’ Fabian Tapner who reached the last 16 in the pairs.
Team 360 duo Rebecca Allen and Hannah Meek met in the last 32 of the Europe Cup girl’s singles with Meek posting an impressive 65 average to defeat her Irish counterpart. Meek would improve her average again to above the 70 mark in the following round, but lot out to eventual champion Sophie McKinlay.
With the singles and pairs competition out the way, it was time for O’Hara to show his mettle in team
competition. After defeated Fabian Tapner’s Wales in the semi-finals then would see off the
Netherlands to claim the team title in Riga.
There was also a final appearance for Allen as she reached the mixed pairs final with Yazmin Ruck-Havard as McKinlay once again scupered Team360. Overall in incredible few days for some of our young talents and a time that will live long in the memory.
Adam Dee secured a vault win at Barrow’s Lodge after squeezing through a tight final.
Whilst the young Irishman wasn’t at his best in the early stages, he upped his
performances as the competition progressed.
Young Jack Nankervis threw just shy of a ton in his superleague outing earlier in the week,
adding four maximums along the way in what was another great victory for the youngster.
Hannah Meek posted two 80 plus averages in her vault return, whilst partner in crime
Fabian Tapner also had an excellent week on the board. The Welshman was a runner-up on
Wednesday to Damian Jones after posting several high 70’s averages along the way,
including a win over Meek!
Thursday would see Tapner record another win over his other half, this time doing so with a
100 average! As the competition unfolded Tapner again collected a final outing, a feat he
would match for a third time on Friday evening! He can only be so far away from finding
that elusive win.
Connor Hopkins joined Adam Dee in taking the honours on the ADC vault scene, and doing
so in style with some eye-catching performances. Having posted 88 and 89 averages in his
group, he went a step further to fire home 90 and then a 98 average in the final to seal the
win.
Rebecca Allen and Aidan O’Hara confirmed they will represent the Republic of Ireland at
this year’s JDC World Cup in Gibraltar. O’Hara did so by topping the ranking tables after his
final qualifier was ended by Callum Coade. Allen has enjoyed an excellent start to life in
Team360 and enters Gib as the top ranked Irish girl in the event, representing the Irish B team.
The PDC Development tour was back once again, with a bunch of our Team360 stars arriving at
the Marshall Arena in search of some summer glory in Milton Keynes.
Ryan Branley made his dev tour debut less than six months ago, but is already making waves in
the PDC’s youth system. The North-East star added another quarter-final to his repertoire losing
out to Niko Springer in a deciding leg.
JDC advanced tour winner Cayden Smith was also on the title trail and claimed a memorable
scalp in the shape of Jarred Cole on the Saturday afternoon en route to a last 32 finish. There
were also outings for Riley Rees-Tucker, Connor Hopkins and Fabian Tapner with all three
recording some wins in MK.
It was an impressive weekend for Nathan Potter who recorded two last 32 runs and a last 16 in
the final event of the weekend. Whilst he was unlucky to lose out to tour topper Danny Jansen,
several 90+ averages and a win over Jurjen Van der Velde covered a successful weekend for
Potter.
Away from the Development Tour there was a near 90 average for Jack Nankervis in the
SuperLeague scene as he collected another 4-0 win. There was also a last 64 appearance for
Hannah Meek in the UKDA National Singles in Bolton.
Our final round-up comes from Denmark as Ireland’s Adam Dee completed another WDF
singles victory at the World Open. He averaged 82 in a 4-0 success over Julia Siek to take the
crown.
—–ENDS—-
Words and Images: Josh Green and Winmau
