Inaugural BDDA events in Plymouth prove very popular
THE city’s Tamar View Community Centre hosted the British Disability Darts Association (BDDA) for the first time at the weekend when players came from the length and breadth of the country to play in the BDDA Plymouth Classic and Plymouth Open.
Players warmed up for the main event with a “money-in, money-out” competition on Friday evening, which was contested as a round robin with the top eight going through to the quarter-finals.
Paul Hampton proved a worthy winner with Michael Callaghan as runner-up and Matt Doe and Ricky Chilton as the losing semi-finalists.
CHAMPION: The inaugural champion of the BDDA Plymouth Open Jonathan Hirst (centre) pictured with runner-up Shane Havard (right) after being presented with their trophies by the administrator of the Tamar View Community Centre Pat Patel.
The BDDA Plymouth Classic was contested on Saturday as two tournaments, one for wheelchair classification and one for standing and it was Plymouth’s Snowy Dyson that clinched the wheelchair event.
Four winners emerged from the “round robin” to make the semi-finals and it was Dyson who was first into the final when he defeated Mark Leighton 2-0.
In the other half of the draw, Kevin Stringer ended the hopes of Amar Dehar 2-1, but he was defeated 3-0 in the final and the England International proved to be a popular winner in front of home support.
Michael Davies faced some anxious moments before he reached the final of the standing classification, having been taken the full distance in both the last eight and his semi-final by Phil Smith and Shane Havard respectively.
In the top half of the draw, Andrew Quinn had 3-1 wins over both Jonathan Hirst and Michael Callaghan but found Davies too good in the final and was defeated 3-1.
The main event of the weekend, namely the BDDA Plymouth Open was played on Sunday, and carried valuable ranking points towards the “Road to Winmau 2019 Tour”.
The event was a straight knockout with all matches played over the best of five legs of 501 and contested by both standing and wheelchair players alike.
Any hopes of a repeat victory for Plymouth’s Snowy Dyson was dashed in the quarter-finals when he went out 3-0 to the 2018 Winmau Masters champion Michael Davies and Welsh international Ricky Chilton had his hopes ended in the last eight when he lost 3-1 to Jonathan Hirst.
Andrew Quinn made the last four from the bottom half of the draw after edging out Phil Smith 3-2 and joining him was Shane Havard who defeated Paul Gelder 3-1.
The first semi-final went the full distance before Hirst edged Davies 3-2 while Havard progressed with a 3-0 defeat of Quinn.
In a well contested final, that deservedly went the full five legs, Hirst held his nerve to hit the winning double and become the inaugural champion of the BDDA Plymouth Open.
This was the first time that Plymouth had put on such an event and much thanks must go down to the Plymouth Disabled Darts League chairman Snowy Dyson and the administrator of the Tamar View Community Centre, Pat Patel for their valued input.
The weekend was so successful that Sarah Smale, secretary of the British Disabled Darts Association, pictured presenting Snowy Dyson and Michael Davies with their trophies as the respective winners of the Plymouth Classic, is now going to make the Plymouth Open and Classic an annual event.
She said: “The Tamar View produced an excellent set up, accommodating eight wheelchair accessible boards and I was so grateful at the way that the community centre supported the event with the help of members from the Plymouth Disabled Darts League”.
Results
BDDA Plymouth Open last 32: Michael Davies bt Ryan Stevens 3-0, Katie Dolman bt Rick Cartwright 3-1, Snowy Dyson bt Kevin Turner 3-2, Ricky Chilton bt Mick Jones 3-0, Jonathan Hirst bt Simon Birch 3-0, Graham Mitchell bt David Silva 3-0, Andrew Quinn bt Mikey Swindells 3-0, Paul Hampton bt Ricky Sneddon 3-1, Phil Smith bt Amar Dehar 3-1, Shane Havard bt Kevin Stringer 3-0, Matt Doe bt Brian Lumsdon 3-2, Michael Callaghan bt Phil Lees 3-1, Paul Gelder bt Mark Leighton 3-0. Byes: Godfrey Reid, Sonia Hooper, Pete Bramley.
Last 16: Davies bt Reid 3-1, Dyson bt Dolman 3-1, Chilton bt Hooper 3-1, Hirst bt Mitchell 3-0, Quinn bt Bramley 3-2, Smith bt Hampton 3-0, Havard bt Doe 3-2, Gelder bt Callaghan 3-2.
Quarter-finals: Davies bt Dyson 3-0, Hirst bt Chilton 3-1, Quinn bt Smith 3-2, Havard bt Gelder 3-1.
Semi-finals: Hirst bt Davies 3-2, Havard bt Quinn 3-0.
Final: Jonathan Hirst defeated Shane Havard 3-2.
