Dirk van Duijvenbode reaches final of PC16

Wim Blokpoel - Today the Players Championship circuit continued with event 16, in Niedernhausen. A lot of Dutch players were involved!

‘Aubergenius’ Dirk van Duijvenbode started well as he avaraged 102,1 in a 6-1 win over 2 time Lakeside World Champion Scott Waites! In round 2, DVD then beat fellow Dutch,an Jimmy Hendeiks 6-2. In his board final, Van Duijvenbode averaged 101,3 in a 6-3 win over ‘Rapid’ Ricky Evans! Into the last 16, where Van Duijvenbode played on stream as he beat Belgian number one Dimitri van den Bergh 6-2. In the quarter-finals it was on stream again, as Van Duijvenbode beat first seed Luke Humphries for the very first time, 6-4 with another average over a ton. In the semi-finals, it was a comfortable 7-1 victory over Irish talent Keane Barry as Van Duijvenbode reached his second final of the year. There he played against Michael Smith. It was an enormous game as all of the 14 legs were won in 15 darts or less! Unfortunately, an average of 107,3 wasn’t enough for DVD, as he lost 6-8 to Smith who averaged over 106 himself. Unlucky not to win, but an enormous day for Van Duijvenbode who is in great form!

UK Open Champion Danny Noppert started his day against Radek Szaganski, who he beat 6-1. In the last 64 he then took on French Thibault Tricole on stream who he beat 6-5, having to survive a last leg despite averaging over 99! In round 3, ‘The Freeze’ played fellow Dutch,an Vincent van der Voort who he beat 6-4. In the last 16, Noppert lost 5-6 on stream against Andrew Gilding, after missing one matchdart!

Before his defeat to Noppert, Van der Voort had two great wins: he first beat Kevin Burness 6-3, and then had a 6-4 victory over Austrian talent Rusty-Jake Rodriguez on the stream! Five time World Champion Raymond van Barneveld took on José de Sousa on stream in round 1. RVB played brilliant, as he averaged 104 in a 6-2 win over the Portugese number one! In round 2, the Dutch legend beat fellow Dutchman Jeffrey de Zwaan 6-1. In the last 32, ‘Barney’ did lose though, 4-6 to John Henderson despite an average of 97,6.

Before his defeat to Van Barneveld, Jeffey de Zwaan did beat Belgian Mike de Decker 6-4 on the streaml And before his defeat to Van Duijvenbode, Jimmy Hendriks did beat Adam Hunt 6-5! Niels Zonneveld edged out Danish Vladimir Andersen in the last 128 6-5, but lost one round later, 4-6 to Humphries. Almere’s Ron Meulenkamp beat Dutch American Jules van Dongen 6-1, but then got whitewashed by Belgian Van den Bergh who averaged 103,7. 

Damian Mol started the day with a 6-4 win over Australian Gordon Mathers, but lost in thr last 64, 2-6 to Steve Beaton. Urk’s Geert Nentjes came back from 0-3 down, to beat Joe Murnan 6-3 hitting three 12-darters and averaging over 99. Nentjes then lost in round 2, 2-6 to Martin Schindler despite another average over 99. Last Dutch win came from ‘Bionic’ Berry van Peer, as he averaged 99,7 in a 6-3 victory over Croatian Boris Krcmar. In the second round, he did lose 4-6 to Stephen Bunting.

Dutch Open winner Jelle Klaasen was one of the replacements, but lost 3-6 to Spanish Tony Martinez in round 1. Jermaine Wattimena had a first round defeat on stream, 4-6 to Lewis Williams. Other Dutch first round defeats came from: Martijn Kleermaker (4-6 to Nathan Rafferty), Maik Kuivenhoven (1-6 to Ross Smith), Danny Jansen (4-6 to Nathan Girvan), Jeremy van der Winkel (5-6 to Josh Rock), Danny van Trijp (2-6 to Jamie Hughes), Kevin Doets (5-6 to Zoran Lerchbacher) and Luc Peters (4-6 to Geert de Vos).