The Gibraltar Darts Youth team will be heading off to Malmo, Sweden on Wednesday for the 2017 WDF European Youth Darts Cup, the event is played in Singles, Pairs and as a Team.

The team is Jerome Duarte Chipol, Craig Galliano, Justin Hewitt & Sean Negrette with Jeremy Cruz and Alex Nuñez as managers. The parents of the four kids will also be travelling with the squad.

The GDA Youth commitee would like to thank Target Darts & Argus Insurance who have been the main sponsor of Youth Darts, the GSLA and all of the other local sponsors who have helped them make this trip possible. Thanks to A.Souile Audibert, C.K Transport ltd, GJBS, Hassans, Kenneth Navas Lawyers, Masbro Insurance, Moreno 2000 ltd, Meddoc, Robvia & Retsso. A big thanks also to Calypso Tours for providing the transport to Malaga Airport.

The GDA’s 6th Ranking Tournament of the season, the Joe Goldwin Singles, took place with 39 players registering. This is the last seeded ranking tournament this season, leaving just the non-seeded National Champion to be played.

Seed No 2 Manuel Vilerio was the first seeded player eliminated, losing his 2nd round match 3-1 to eventual semi-finalist Dylan Duo. George Federico (Seed No 3) progressed to the Quarter Final which he lost to an on form Antony Lopez in a close match 4-3. Seed No 4 Justin Broton progressed smoothly through to the semi-final, conceding only 1 leg on the way, with Seed No 1 Dyson Parody reaching the semis without losing a single leg.

Dylan Duo V Antony Lopez – a close game with both players throwing some excellent darts. With the match levelled at 4-4 Dylan missed his double to claim victory, leaving Antony needing a 120 popularly known as a “Shanghai”. Anthony kept his cool and checked out the 120, securing a place in the final.

Dyson Pardoy V Justin Broton – Another fiercely contested match with some great darts. Dyson’s scoring was too strong for Justin to keep in check, with the score ending 5-2.

FINAL

Dyson Parody Vs Antony Lopez

The final started off very close with Antony Lopez claiming the 1st leg, with both players claiming alternate legs bringing the score to 3-3. Dyson could have been ahead at this point but a number of missed doubles kept Antony in contention.

Dyson finally gained the advantage in the 7th leg, checking out a double 8. He then powered ahead in the next 2 legs, hitting a 180 in each, but Antony still kept his cool and was not far behind in either. After a few missed doubles Dyson hit a double 5 and secured the win 6-3.

Final Score Dyson Parody 6-3 Antony Lopez.
A total of 19 x 180’s were thrown and 3 x 100+ finishes recorded.

180’s – Dyson Parody x 6, Dylan Duo x 5, George Federico, Justin Broton, David Francis x 2, Tony Dawkins, Carlos Muñoz x 1.

Semi-Finalists (Justin Hewitt, Craig Galliano, Sean Negrette, Ethan Cleverly)

The penultimate Youth Ranking event of the season took place this past weekend. This ranking event was to prove vital for some of the players who are trying to make it into the top 4 in the rankings list and this was the case as we saw a big shock result in the first round.

The current top 2 players in the rankings Justin Hewitt and Sean Negrette have successfully secured a place in the team for the European Cup which takes place in July. However the 4^th place is still up for grabs, either Craig Galliano, Jerome Duarte or Ethan Cleverly will miss out on that final spot in the team. Although it is still not mathematically confirmed It will most likely be Craig & Jerome who make the team as Ethan Cleverly would need to win the next event and depend on other results going his way. The last ranking event which is the main event of the season the National Champion will take place next month and this event will determine who takes the final spot.

First Round Games
In the first round we saw comfortable 3-0 victories for Kaylan Franco against Dylan Duo Jnr, Ethan Cleverly against Nick Garcia & Justin Hewitt against Joseph Ward. Liam Santos defeated Joseph Borge 3-1 in the battle of the newcomers. However the big shock of the first round was Ethan Smith losing 3-1 against a much improved Jayc Alecio. This defeat for Ethan was to break his hopes of a place in the top 4 and in this year’s European Cup squad.

Quarter-Final Games
In the first two Quarter-Final games we saw easy 3-0 victories for Craig Galliano against Kaylan Franco and for Sean Negrette against Liam Santos.Sean hit a 180 on his way to victory. In the third game Ethan Cleverly got the better of Jayc Alecio 3-1 and in the last Quarter-Final game Justin Hewitt defeated the previous ranking event winner Jerome Duarte 3-1.

Semi-Final Games
In the first Semi-Final game Craig Galliano’s powerful scoring was to prove the difference in this game and quickly secured a 3-0 victory over Ethan Cleverly. The second Semi-Final game was a much tighter affair. Both players were hitting the high scores but it was Justin Hewitt with two high checkout finishes of 116 &134 who defeated Sean Negrette 3-2 in a close match.

The Final
The final was contested between Craig Galliano & Justin Hewitt. With both players having one ranking title each they both battled it out to see who could win their second title of the season and what a battle it was to be. The game had everything, high scores of 100 & 140 were being hit for fun and finishes were being checked out with ease. The game went all the way to 3 legs each, in the last leg it was anyone’s game but it was Justin who held his nerve to hit the winning double and secure the title. Without any doubt the best final we have seen all season.

Justin hit three maximum scores of 180 in the Final.

Commiserations to Craig Galliano & Congratulations to Justin Hewitt!

Mons Calpe B claim the Second Division title with 3 games to spare!

This week’s league games saw the second division league title go to Mons Calpe B after they managed to see off their main league rivals Glacis in remarkable fashion to claim the title. Mons Calpe B triumph sees Mons Calpe Sports Club regain the title for a second year after the A Side won it last year. This now means Mons Calpe Sports Club will have two darts teams playing the premier division of Gibraltar Darts.

Lincoln Darts Team edge closer to getting their hands on the 1^st Division title!

Lincoln darts team, mathematically are not champions yet but they have made life easier and are now clear favourites to win their first league title with a 5 point gap over College Cosmos. The Lincoln side managed to demolish their league rivals in remarkable fashion beating Cosmos 9-1.

Captain John Duo was quick to congratulate his side for their brave efforts on social media in which they had a friendly response from the whole GDA family.

Semi-Finalists (Ethan Smith, Craig Galliano, Sean Negrette, Jerome Duarte)

The 4th youth ranking of the season saw the long wait finally come to an end for Jerome Duarte, as he managed to hold his nerve throughout the day and claim his first ranking title.

First Rounds
In the early stages of the event, we saw some crucial wins for some players. Current youth national champion Craig Galliano managed to get the better of Justin Hewitt 2-0. Dylan Duo Jnr managed to cause a major upset by defeating Jayc Alecio 2-1, and Joseph Borge managed to get the better of Elton Victory 2-1 in the battle of the youngsters.

Quarter-Finals
In the Quarter’s Craig managed to whitewash Ethan Cleverly 3-0 with a brilliant display of scoring and finishing. Kaylan Franco almost managed to pull out the biggest upset on the day narrowly losing out to eventual champion Jerome Duarte 3-2 in a last leg decider. Sean Negrette managed to hit a maximum score of 180 against Dylan Jnr in his match and secure a comfortable 3-0 win, while on board 4 Ethan Smith managed to get the better of Joseph Borge 3-0.

Semi-Finals
In the Semi’s Craig Galliano managed to overcome the back to back ranking 4 champion Ethan Smith 3-0 in a fearless display. In the other Semi-Final match Jerome Duarte managed to overcome Sean Negrette 3-1 who previously beat him in the final of the last tournament.

Final
The final saw the top two youth players face off in what had all the makings in being a youth classic. Both players did not fail to disappoint, as the match went all the way to the last and final leg. Jerome got into an early lead, but Craig refused to lose without putting up a fight. Craig managed to level up the match up 3-3, but a determined Jerome Duarte managed to hold his nerve in the last leg in which both players missed chances, and take his first ranking title with a brilliant performance winning 4-3.

Commiserations to Craig Galliano and Congratulations to Jerome Duarte.

Preliminary Round Results
Justin Hewitt 2-0 Joseph Ward
Nick Garcia 2-1 Liam Santos

First Round Results
Craig Galliano 2-0 Justin Hewitt
Ethan Cleverly 2-0 Kaylan Payas
Jerome Duarte 2-0 Nick Garcia
Kaylan Franco 2-0 Kyle Payas
Sean Negrette 2-0 Dylan de los Santos
Dylan Duo Jnr 2-1 Jayc Alecio
Ethan Smith 2-0 Liam Asquez
Joseph Borge 2-1 Elton Victory

Quarter-Final Results
Craig Galliano 3-0 Ethan Cleverly
Jerome Duarte 3-2 Kaylan Franco
Sean Negrette 3-0 Dylan Duo Jnr
Ethan Smith 3-0 Joseph Borge

Semi-Final Results
Craig Galliano 3-0 Ethan Smith
Jerome Duarte 3-1 Sean Negrette

Final
Jerome Duarte 4-3 Craig Galliano

Below is the updated Youth Rankings list after 4 events played so far.