Quick Links
After a successful debut in 2008, the European Darts Championships returns this Thursday for four days of what should be extremely high quality darts.
2008’s tournament attracted some of the world’s best players to the Südbahnhof in Frankfurt. After a first round which saw leading players Terry Jenkins, Roland Scholten and John Part dumped out of the tournament, the second round saw some scintillating darts as Phil ‘the Power’ Taylor scored the second highest average in televised darts history (a stunning 113.92) in his 9-3 win over Mervyn King.
Taylor then defeated Mark Walsh and Robert Thornton on his way to the final where he met protégé Adrian Lewis who had disposed of Raymond van Barneveld and Peter Manley on his way to the final. Taylor eventually triumphed 11-5 taking the inaugural European Darts title and the £50,000 prize.
Taylor returns to defend his title in a high quality field at the Claus Arena and Hotel in Hoofddorp, Holland. Seeded one, the Power opens with a match against local player Toon Greebe and a win at 1/20 would see the 2008 champion face either Robert Thornton or Wes Newton in the second round.
Local hero Raymond van Barneveld is seeded number two although, amazingly, the Dutchman has yet to win a title in 2009 after taking some time away from the sport to deal with his recently diagnosed diabetes. Barney faces a tough first round opponent in Dennis Priestly and with Mark Walsh, Adrian Lewis and Mervyn King in his half of the draw, it could be a tough week for the talented Dutchman.
Two players to watch in the bottom half of the draw are the third seed James Wade and the unseeded Steve Beaton, both of whom are coming off the back of good wins. Beaton won the recent Players Championship with a terrific run of wins against Wayne Mardle, Dennis Smith, Denis Ovens, Kevin Painter and Vincent van der Voort. It was Beaton’s first title since 2001 and the 45 year old was understandably delighted. “It’s brilliant,” said Beaton. “It’s been a long time coming for me but I’ve been desperate to win an event and come close a few times recently. I know I can still do it and it’s about putting it together on the day and performing, and I did that today.”
Beaton faces last season’s beaten finalist Adrian Lewis in the first round full of confidence, and there could be a minor upset at 7/4 if the likeable Midlander can reproduce his Players Championship form in Holland this week.
James Wade has three players Championship titles in 2009 and goes into this tournament with a real chance. If Wade can see off the awkward challenge of Alan Tabern in the first round at 2/5 he looks to have a clear path to the semi-finals where an out of sorts van Barneveld may await him.
Of the remaining hopefuls, an outside bet for a good run could be the young Dutchman Jelle Klaasen in front of his home fans. The Matador is 8/11 to defeat Wayne Jones in the first round and a win would see him face fifth seed Terry Jenkins or Jamie Caven. He’ll have to beat Taylor to reach the final but could give the Dutch support something to cheer about.
Colin Osborne is another outsider to watch in the Taylor-less bottom half of the draw. Osborne was the surprise winner of the 2009 Championship League defeating Mervyn King and Phil Taylor on the way to the £10,000 prize. The Wizard said, “I put myself under a lot of pressure after the UK Open but hopefully now I can kick on for the rest of the year. I’ve proven to myself that if I play as well as I can do, I can beat anybody, and now I have to keep doing that.” Osborne is 4/7 to beat Paul Nicholson in his opening match.
It’s always hard to look past Phil Taylor in these sorts of high-profile events even at 8/15 and I expect the legend to be there or thereabouts on Sunday night. Whilst the home nation are well represented here I can’t see van Barneveld, Klaasen or Stompe troubling the title and it might be left to the English contingent of James Wade at 15/2 and Steve Beaton at a standout 125/1 to provide the biggest challenge to the Power.
