James Wade added another big scalp to his growing list of achievements – beating World Champion Raymond Van Barneveld in a thrilling final at the Blue Square UK Open Welsh Regional in Newport. The Unicorn star came from 5-7 down to beat Barney 8-7 on a dramatic day in Newport. It was a high class final and Wade showed tremendous character to fight back, when he looked down and out against Barneveld.
It was a day when Phil Taylor again failed to shine, which will be a huge disappointment for ‘The Power’ after he was beaten by Alex Roy in the Welsh Players Championship on Saturday. Taylor lost 4-6 to veteran Denis Ovens in the quarter-finals.
Wade pocketed £6,000 for his brilliant victory but to beat Barneveld will mean a lot more to the World No.3
It really was a fitting finale to a great weekend for the PDC in Wales….Wade led 4-1 and but for two missed darts at double 10, it would have been 5-1. That was the signal for the Barney comeback, as he won six of the next seven legs, to go within one of victory. In that spell, Barneveld hit three 180s, a 10-darter and two ton plus finishes.
Wade though wasn’t finished…..he pulled one leg back on his own throw, then came up with a brilliant 12 darter to break and won the match with a terrific 87 finish after Barney had just hit his fifth maximum to pile on the pressure.
This will surely be up there for James Wade! He had earlier beaten former Unicorn star Colin Lloyd in a terrific tussle in the 5th Round…..Wade hit 78 in the decider, with Lloyd sitting on 32. The young star from Aldershot was then too good for Unicorn stablemate Adrian Lewis in the quarter-finals. His finishing was again the key.
John Part could have gone the distance. He had a tough draw but ousted the Dutch trio of Jelle Klaasen, Roland Scholten and Vincent van der Voort, before losing a last leg decider against Mervyn King in the quarter-finals. Part was 3-1 in front but ultimately paid the price for missed doubles.
Taylor again looked out-of-sorts in losing to Ovens….up to the quarter-finals, he looked in good touch, including a comprehensive 5-1 win over Peter Manley but against Ovens, he just couldn’t get going. Taylor started the match with a brilliant 164 check-out but gave ‘The Heat’ far too many chances.BY STUART PYKE
