A CAREER in any sport has to end at some stage, but when someone is forced into an early retirement due to a debilitating illness, then that is cruel, which is what happened when another of Plymouth’s top players, Ivor Newman, was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Newman fell in love with the sport when he was just 17 years of age and began in the Yelverton and District League, playing for the Glenholt Country Club. After four seasons there, he started to ply his trade in th

AFTER an arduous season, that stretched over 12 months of two calendar years, Porters A have been crowned champions of the Plymouth and District Friday League. They took a maximum 26 points from their final two matches to claim the title with 14 points to spare. Second placed Kings Tamerton Community Centre won their penultimate fixture 11-2 before crashing to a 9-4 defeat against Royal Naval Arms A who had to settle for third place, despite winning their last 35 matches, sin

ONE of the best ever fixtures in Plymouth darts was contested in the Monday Premier League and Maritime A just did enough to preserve their unbeaten record when edging out Brookside A 6-5. The match produced 111 throws of a ton or more, 10 of which were 180s, six ton plus checkouts and to add to that, Paul Palmer emerged a 3-2 winner over Scott Lawrey (180x2) aided by a leg in just 12 darts which started with back to back 180s. He unfortunately hit just 26 on his third visit,

KINGS Arms made a remarkable comeback to recover from a 5-1 deficit in the Porters Function Room 501 Top 20 League and win 6-5 away at Indian Inn, taking the last five singles for the loss of just two legs. Warren Gordon won 3-0 aided by a 15-darter and at 5-5, Chrissie Kinnaird held her nerve to win the decisive point when defeating Steve Ebsworth 3-1. League leaders Porters Patriots made it 14 victories on the bounce when winning 7-4 at second-placed Octagon Social Club who

DARTSWORLD lost ground on the Plymouth City Super League leaders when they were edged out 6-5, for their fourth defeat of the campaign. They led 5-4, but 3-0 victories for both Fred Goldsmith and Lee Hellings was enough for Octagon Social Club to prevail by the narrowest of margins. The highlight of the fixture though was a 28-dart (35.75) doubles success for Danny Allen and Keelan Kay before Allen went on to win his singles 3-1, aided by a leg in 13. Porters B made it 22 win

SIX of Plymouth’s leading darts players will fly to Bucharest today, to compete in the Romanian International Darts Open and Romanian Classic Darts Open which will take place from January 26-28. Lee Hunter, Mark Turner, Lewis Dare, Scott Lawrey, Gary Phillips and Billy Evans will be hoping to go as far in both tournaments as their ability will take them, chasing some of the prizemoney which totals over 10,000 Euros for the two events. EUROPE BOUND: Lee Hunter will be one of s

THIRTY years ago, one of Plymouth’s finest darts players produced arguably his greatest ever achievement when winning the Whitbread Flowers Dartsathlon. John Goves was one of the entries from 650 Whitbread outlets, that stretched from Warwickshire to Lands End, but won through to compete in the finals which took place on March 27, 1988, at the BAWA Leisure Centre, Bristol. Representing the Coach House Inn, South Brent, Goves was one of 28 qualifiers, from an original entry ap

ANOTHER disappointing performance from Devon in the British Inter County Championships has seen them sink to the bottom of the premier division table, six points adrift of relegation safety. This fixture, against fellow strugglers Cambridgeshire, was needed to be won to move up the table over their opponents and in all fairness, on reflection, this was a fixture that should have been won. The Devon Ladies’ B side gave the squad a good start despite losing the first and sixth

CORNWALL remain top of division one after a defeat by the narrowest of margins in their British Inter County Championship fixture away at Northamptonshire, but the eight-point lead that they held at the end of 2017 has now been trimmed back to a single point. The Ladies’ B team took a share of the spoils when Claire Irons (15.49), Teresa Brookshaw (20.31) and Jacqui Champion (17.89) all won in three straight legs but the Men’s B side began lethargically. Only Rob Ruberry (26.

AFTER four arduous days of competition, Simon Stevenson returned to Plymouth in the early hours of Monday morning, with a much-coveted two-year Tour Card from the PDC’s Q School. Last Thursday, at the Robin Park Tennis Centre, Wigan, over 430 players began their campaign in the quest for one of just 23 tour cards that were on offer. The final two players on each of the four days won an automatic PDC Tour Card but other participants were awarded ranking points throughout the e