Keelan Kay claims two titles at 2019 WDF World Cup
KEELAN Kay will return from Romania a double World Cup champion after producing arguably his best ever England performance at the 2019 WDF World Cup, when winning both the Boy’s singles and doubles titles in Cluj, Napoca.
His partner in the boy’s doubles was Brad Phillips and they sailed through the round robin stages winning all their matches without dropping a leg.
Against the South African duo of Stefan Vermaak and Luke Williams they went 2-0 up when Keelan finished a 12-darter with a kill of 164, before an 18-dart leg ended with Phillips hitting a 180 followed by another Kay finish of 118.
The England duo finished the rout when Phillips checked out in game four at the first time of asking for a win in 13 to give the winners a single dart average of 29.47.
They emerged 4-2 winners in their quarter-final tie against Hungary’s Peter Gervai and Barnabas Nagy in 16, 18, 19 and 15 before ending the hopes of Luke Van Der Kwast and Jurjen Van Der Velde by a 5-1 margin in the semi’s.
Leading the Dutch pairing 2-1, Kay and Phillips finished the job in hand by taking the last three in 17, 13 and 15.
Waiting in the final were Tomas Houdek and Vilem Sedivy, representing the Czech Republic and the England duo had the best possible start when Keelan finished an 18-darter with a kill of 101 before they went 2-0 up in 17.
Their opponents reduced the deficit when taking the third in 15, but England’s two-game advantage was restored when they won the fourth leg.
Houdek and Sedivy won the fifth leg before a win in 17 put England 4-2 up followed by a 116 outshot from Kay to put the England pairing just one leg away from the title.
Their opponents were still hanging in there and took two on the bounce in 15 and 14 but at 5-4 Brad Phillips stepped up to hit double 10 and claim the WDF World Cup Youth pairs champions title.
The early stages of the Boy’s singles competition were also played as a round robin and Keelan Kay won all of his matches in group D, including a 4-2 defeat of Scottish international Nathan Girvan, the losing finalist at the 2019 BDO World Youth championship.
Keelan defeated Girvan with a 28.8 average, clinching the match-winning sixth leg in just 11 darts.
In the last 16, Kay navigated a tricky tie against Hungary’s Peter Gevai by the narrowest of margins before ending the hopes of Germany’s Dominik Grullich 4-2, clinching his winning legs in 17, 19, 15 and 17.
Awaiting “The Lord of the Board” in the last four was Shusaku Nakamura, who earlier had knocked out Keelan’s England team-mate Brad Phillips, but the Japanese thrower held no fears for Kay, and he was swept aside 5-1 in 17, 18, 17, 17, and 16.
Surprisingly, in the final, Keelan’s opponent was Mehrdad Seyfi of Iran, but he was there on merit after having defeated some top opponents along the way.
Kay went 2-0 up in 15 and 13 before taking the third in 18 when checking out from 112, boasting at this stage a single dart average of 32.67.
The next two legs were shared before the former Plymouth student won two on the bounce to lead 5-1 and move to just one leg away from the title.
He had chances in legs seven and eight, but the Iranian hit his doubles to make it 5-3 before a 15-darter sealed a very well deserved 6-3 success, finishing with a single dart average of 28.90.
Beau Greaves and Shannon Reeves won the girls doubles title when they edged out Scotland’s Sophie McKinlay and Chloe O’Brien 6-5 before Beau went on to also take the girls singles title.
Greaves went 4-0 down against the Republic of Ireland’s Katie Sheldon but won six on the bounce for victory.
England Ladies, which included Plymouth’s Maria O’Brien, won the team event when they defeated Australia in the final.
After losing the opening leg, England went 3-1 up after wins from O’Brien, Fallon Sherrock (16) and Deta Hedman (17) before their opponents came back to level at 3-3.
Maria edged England back in front with a 15-darter before they went on to win five of the next six legs to clinch the title 9-4.
