Новости Unicorn

The Unicorn Contender made his bold prediction after seeing off Gary Welding in the 1st Round at the Circus Tavern.

“I have come very close before and I just feel something special in my throwing and I reckon I can do that illusive 9-darter!” he said.

Hamilton disposed of Welding 3 sets to nil but made hard work of it, missing 11 darts for the match, before clinching a 2nd Round showdown against either Mark Dudbridge or American John Kucyznski.

Two sets up and needing just one more leg for victory, Hamilton misread what he needed after already blowing nine chances to win the match. He looked at what Welding required and hit double two……sadly, he looked at the wrong scoreboard, because he actually needed five not four! In the end, the embarrassing lapse in concentration didn’t prove costly. Although, Welding won that scrappy leg – Hamilton closed out a comfortable victory in the next.

Hamilton said: “I know I wasn’t at my best but this is the best I have ever felt coming into a major tournament. I have been practicing really well with Chris Mason for the past few weeks and hopefully we will both benefit. I have got the experience of the World Championships under my belt and I feel I can go a long way at the Circus Tavern. I put myself under pressure against Gary but I will get better and better.”

Fellow Unicorn Contender James Wade finally won his first match at the World Championships – at the third attempt……but it was a lack-lustre display against Kiwi Warren French.

Wade finally won by 3 sets to 1 to book a 2nd Round clash with qualifier Dave Ladley next Wednesday and the only consolation is that he knows things can only get better.

He was two sets and two legs to the good, then missed six darts to win the match and French took the third set as Wade went to sleep. Despite losing the opening leg of the fourth set, he finally closed out the game.

“I am just relieved to win,” he said. “To be honest, I am so embarrassed that I played like that. I can’t explain it, because I have put so much work in before this tournament. I know I will be much better against Dave Ladley – I will have to be!”

Wade hit four 180s and averaged just 81.5 but it’s job done.
In the biggest upset of the tournament so far, Wayne Mardle was sent packing by qualifier Alan Caves in a 1st Round classic. ‘Hawaii 501’ fought his way back from two sets down but then lost out in a dramatic final set tie-break. Mardle will be kicking himself, because the crowd favourite missed five darts to win…..take nothing away from Caves though, who is celebrating his first ever win in a major TV tournament.

Wednesday’s 1st Round results (best of five sets):

Wayne Jones 3-0 Ian Branks
Lionel Sams 1-3 Dave Ladley
Colin Monk 0-3 Per Laursen
Andy Hamilton 3-0 Gary Welding
Steve Beaton 3-0 Gerry Convery
Dennis Priestley 3-0 Josephus Schenk
Wayne Mardle 2-3 Alan Caves
James Wade 3-1 Warren French

Thursday’s 1st Round schedule:

Dave Askew v Martin Burchell
Andy Smith v Shi Yongsheng
Wes Newton v Tetsuya Wada
Andy Jenkins v Bill Davis
Mark Dudbridge v John Kuczynski
Roland Scholten v Ron Miller
Kevin Painter v Colin Osborne
Alex Roy v Richie Burnett

BY STUART PYKE

Photo. Lawrence Lustig/PDC