Jurjen van der Velde wins first development tour

Yesterday the first Development Tour (youth) events of the year were played. Just like the Challenge Tour, it’s split in an UK and EU version. The EU Development Tour has a load of Dutch talents, and this was shown in event 1: 7 of the 8 quarter-finalists were Dutch!!

Mark Tabak already guaranteed 4 Dutch semi-finalists as he beat German Joshua Hermann 5-4 in his quarter-final. Jurjen van der Velde beat former Development Tour winner Damian Mol 5-3 while averaging 88, and Bradly Roes surprisingly edged out Maikel Verberk 5-4. There was also very good news as Mike van Duivenbode came back, after having a break from darts around a year ago. The former Tourcard Holder immediately made the last 8 where he lost to Gian van Veen 3-5. 

First Dutch finalist was Jurjen van der Velde from Zevenhuizen. The 18-year-old Dutchman comfortably beat Mark Tabak 5-0. Surprisingly, Bradly Roes also made the final after beating Gian van Veen 5-2. Roes was only playing in his very first development tour event! In the final it was Jurjen van der Velde who beat Roes 5-2 to win his first ever Development Tour event! Congrats to Jurjen, well done!

In Development Tour 2, 4 of the quarter-finalists were Dutch. Yoeri Brouwer lost 3-5 to German talent Niko Springer, but Maikel Verberk did manage to make the semi’s this time as he edged out Poland’s Sebastian Bialecki 5-4. An all Dutch quarter-final was won by Jeroen Mioch who beat Joost Geurts 5-2. In the semi’s, Mioch won again! He surprisingly won 5-2 against Niko Springer! Unfortunately it was not another Dutch final, as Verberk lost 4-5 to Austrian Rusty-Jake Rodriguez. In the final it was Rodriguez who beat Mioch 5-3 but still a very good result for 24-year-old Jeroen Mioch. 2 more events today, so stay tuned for another article!