Sunday, July 15, 2012

Barney seals Euro crown

Barney
Barney seals Euro crown
Dutch ace beats Chisnall 6-4 to claim European Darts Open title

darts
Raymond van Barneveld: Beat Dave Chisnall 6-4 to win in Dusseldorf. Picture credit - Carsten Arlt, PDC Europe (from skysports)

Raymond van Barneveld saw off the challenge of Dave Chisnall to claim the European Darts Open crown on Sunday night.

The Dutchman took the £15,000 first prize at the Maritim Hotel in Dusseldorf in the third of the PDC's European Tour events, following up his earlier wins over Ian White and Brendan Dolan with victories against Gino Vos, James Wade, Richie Burnett and Chisnall.

After defeating young Dutchman Vos 6-2 in Sunday afternoon's third round, van Barneveld repeated the scoreline in the quarter-finals as he came from 2-0 down to defeat world No.3 Wade by winning six successive legs.

Van Barneveld then defeated former world champion Burnett 6-4 in the semis, and won the final against Chisnall by the same scoreline.

He hit a 136-checkout in taking an early 3-1 lead and landed four 180s in the game before sealing victory in style with an 11-dart finish.

Big achievement

The Dutch ace said: "I'm really pleased and happy that I won this tournament. This is a big achievement for me.

"Dave is really playing well at the moment and I'm so happy. I said in January that I was going to play in every tournament and see what happens, and so far I'm doing really well.

"I believe that since I've invested more in myself this year I've got more out of it.

"It seems so long ago for me since I won a 'major' tournament and for me this was a major because you had a big crowd and fantastic players.

"I'm going to go away now and practice every day for the next two weeks building up to the World Matchplay, and hopefully I can do well there."

Chisnall's run saw him reach a second successive European Tour final, with the St Helens thrower following up his loss to Phil Taylor in the German Darts Championship final in Berlin a fortnight ago by reaching the Dusseldorf decider.

He defeated Mark Dudbridge 6-2 in the third round before seeing off Simon Whitlock in a deciding leg in the quarter-finals, and then overcame Mervyn King 6-3 in the semis as he took home £7,500.

Brilliant

Burnett rolled back the years with some brilliant performances in Dusseldorf, defeating youngsters Michael van Gerwen and James Hubbard on Sunday to win through to the semis, where he picked up £5,000 prize money.

King's run to the semis included victories against Steve Beaton and Colin Osborne on Sunday, as he defeated the latter in the quarter-finals with a 105 average, and he moves back up to 18th in the PDC Order of Merit following the tournament.

PDC Unicorn world youth champion Hubbard's achievement in reaching the quarter-finals also saw him claim a qualifying place in the Betfair World Matchplay, as he defeated Mark Walsh in the third round on Sunday afternoon.

Osborne also secured a Blackpool spot in the final tournament before the qualifying cut-off, and he was joined in losing at the quarter-final stage by Wade and Whitlock.

The next European Tour event will be held in Sindelfingen, Stuttgart, from September 7-9.

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