Another final for Zonneveld on Development Tour

Wim Blokpoel - Yesterday the last 2 EU Development Tours of this weekend were played. After a lot of Dutch success it had already been a great weekend.

In event 5 there were 4 Dutch quarter-finalists. Mike van Duivenbode seems very ready to be back in action, as he averaged almost 95 in beating German Tobias Scheifl 5-3. Geert Nentjes however, lost 2-5 to Austrian Rusty-Jake Rodriguez. Niels Zonneveld averaged 98,6 and edged out Tomas Houdek 5-4 who himself averaged 99,3! Finally, Gillian Koehoorn from Sneek beat German Kevin Luhr 5-2. So there were 3 Dutch semi-finalists! Zonneveld edged out Koehoorn 5-4 to make his second final in a row. Unfortunately, Van Duivenbode was defeated 1-5 against Rusty-Jake Rodriguez who averaged 100. So the final was between Zonneveld and Rodriguez who both already won a title this weekend. It was Rodriguez who beat Zonneveld 5-0 so a second title for him, still another great run for Zonneveld though.

In event 6 there were even 5 Dutch quarter-finalists. Gian van Veen lost 1-5 to German talent Niko Springer. 2 quarter-finals were all Dutch: Kevin Doets beat Jeroen Mioch 5-2, and Jurjen van der Velde also beat Urk’s Geert Nentjes 5-2. So we had 2 of this weeks winners in the semi-finals in Doets and Van der Velde. In the semi’s, Doets lost 2-5 to (once again...) Rusty-Jake Rodriguez. Unfortunately, Van der Velde also lost: 4-5 to Springer. Eventualky Rodriguez went on to win his third title of the weekend, having won half of the events. The other 3 were won by Dutchmen in Van der Velde, Doets and Zonneveld so it’s still been a great weekend. 

Next up is the first Eurotour of the year: the Hungarian Darts Trophy! There will be 6 Dutchmen in that. Michael van Gerwen, Danny Noppert and Dirk van Duijvenbode are already in the last 32 as seeded players, while we have Vincent van der Voort starting in round 1 along with 2 Eurotour debutants: Geert ‘The Spear’ Nentjes and former Dutch Open winner Richard Veenstra!