Keelan makes line-up for World Youth championships

KEELAN Kay competed in the last four rounds of the PDC Unicorn Development Tour at the Robin Park Tennis Centre over the weekend and improved his ranking to qualify for the PDC Unicorn World Youth Championships which take place today.

Before Tour 17 began on Saturday morning, Keelan was ranked 84th and out of contention to compete in the “Worlds” but turned in an excellent showing over the last four events and that ranking rose to 68 and a place in today’s prestigious event awaits.

In Tour event 17, Keelan’s first opponent was Brighton’s Lewis Gurney, one of the oldest players to participate and he blew him away 4-1 after opening up with an 18-darter which Kay finished with a checkout of 151 and a 13-leg to go 3-1 up.

Keelan then had to face the 2017 Winmau World Masters Youth champion Nico Blum and although he came from 3-1 down to level at 3-3, the German won the deciding seventh leg in 16 with Keelan waiting for a throw at 48.

Keelan disposed of Jordan Singh 4-0 in the opening round of Tour 18, aided by a brace of 180s before disposing of Troy Brown also in four straight legs.

Leading 3-0, the Plymouth marksman hit his third maximum of the day to clinch the tie with a 15-darter.

Now into the last 64, for the second time on the day, Keelan came face to face with the 2017 World Youth darts championship runner-up, Owen Roelofs and despite hitting his fourth maximum of the day, the Lord of the Board went out 4-1.

Tour 19 beckoned on the Sunday and a 13-darter helped him to dispose of Jake Darter 4-1 before bowing out to the experienced 20-year-old Dutchman Niels Zonneveld.

Keelan (100.20) put that disappointment behind him in Tour 20 and in the opening round against Daniel Jensen, produced his first ever 100+ average when he won 4-0 in 16, 14, 14 and 16.

He followed that up with a 4-1 win over Chester Gardner before going down 4-0 to 22-year-old Jeffrey de Zwaan, a semi-finalist in this year’s World Matchplay and a player who boasts a top 50 ranking on the main tour.

Over the four events, Keelan hit five maximums and averaged 78.77.