Plymouth darts duo target Welsh Open ranking points
PLYMOUTH darts players Maria O’Brien and Snowy Dyson will be hoping for success when they compete this weekend in the Welsh Open, at Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park, North Wales.
Maria, who earlier this week was selected to represent England in the 2018 Europe Cup in Hungary in September, will warm up on Friday evening when she competes in the Ladies’ Pairs.
Her usual partner Deta Hedman is not available for the event due to exhibition work so Maria will be partnering Sue Cusick, a semi-finalist at the 2017 Turkish Open.
On Saturday evening, Maria will then participate in the mixed pairs with partner James Hurrell.
On paper, the pairing looks quite formidable as the 33-year-old Banbury thrower has good form, having reached the last 32 of the BDO World Championships last year and was also a quarter-finalist in the World Matchplay.
Maria’s main event, the Red Dragon Women’s Open Singles, will be contested on Sunday, a day before her birthday and she has been drawn in Group Three.
The 13th seed’s first match will be against the winner of the tie between Chrissie Halliday and Janine Halsall and, if matches go to form, should meet the current World champion Lisa Ashton in the last 16.
Snowy Dyson, who is one of only two bi-lateral, above the knee amputees, in the World Disability Darts Association (WDDA), and the only one in Britain, will start his quest on Friday morning.
He will be competing in the BDDA Welsh Open where his first opponent will be Michael Davies and Snowy will be hoping to replicate the form he showed earlier in the year in the BDDA Open when he reached the last eight, being the last wheelchair player left in the competition.
Friday's event is part of the Road to Winmau Tour for 2018 where players compete for ranking points that will hopefully get them a place in the season’s most prestigious BDDA tournament.
Sixteen British players will compete at the Winmau WDDA World Masters Championship later in the year, eight representing the BDDA, will be selected from ranking points gained on the Road to the Winmau Tour.
