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Hat-Trick Of Titles For Nijman On The Development Tour

Hat-Trick Of Titles For Nijman On The Development Tour

Alex Moss |

A WEEK IN DARTS – JULY 29, 2024 – NIJMAN WINS THREE TITLES TO MOVE CLEAR AT THE DEVELOPMENT TOUR SUMMIT

It was the turn of the brightest young talents in the world of darts to take centre stage at the weekend as the Development Tour season continued in Milton Keynes. Here’s our round-up of all the action…

TRIO OF TITLES FOR NIJMAN ON THE DEVELOPMENT TOUR

Wessel Nijman soared to the top of the Development Tour Order of Merit after winning an impressive three out of the five events at the weekend.

The Marshall Arena, in Milton Keynes, played host to the penultimate weekend of the 2024 Development Tour season, with the Dutch starlet Nijman the star of the show.

The 24-year-old went into Event 16 hot on the heels of the Order of Merit leader Keane Barry, but overtook the Irishman after winning both tournaments on the Friday.

Nijman edged out first-time finalist Tavis Dudeney 5-4 in the Event 16 final, before getting the better of Germany’s Niko Springer 5-3 in the decider of Event 17.

On Saturday, Springer gained revenge with a 5-4 victory against Nijman in the finale of Event 18, but the new Order of Merit leader was soon back in the winners’ circle as he saw off Jack Male 5-2 to pick up the Event 19 crown.

The weekend concluded with Event 20 on Sunday and saw Springer clinch his second title in as many days, beating Nijman 5-1 in the semi-finals and then fellow German Leon Weber 5-3 in the final.

With just four events of the season left to go, Nijman holds a strong lead of £5,550 at the top of the Order of Merit and is on course for a debut at the Grand Slam of Darts in November.

Springer’s pair of titles at the weekend has moved him up to second in the rankings and on track for his first PDC tour card, as well as a debut at the PDC World Darts Championship.

The 2024 Development Tour concludes with Events 21-24 in Wigan on October 12-13.

WILLIAMS RETAINS UKDA SINGLES CROWN

Jim Williams successfully defended his men’s singles title at the Darts Corner UKDA National Finals Weekend in Bolton on Sunday.

The former BDO major winner, who is currently ranked 44th on the PDC Order of Merit, beat David Gradwell 6-2 in the final.

The men’s singles event attracted a field of 221 players who compete in the UKDA county system, with Williams running off seven wins in a row to regain the title he won in 2023.

On Saturday, Suffolk’s Jo Locke made it back-to-back women’s singles titles after defeating Vicky Pruim 5-2 in the final.

The 2023 champion dropped just two legs in the first five games of her title defence, before beating Filly Blay 4-2 in the semi-finals and then Pruim in the decider.

The weekend started with the men’s and women’s pairs events on the Friday night. Sean Holley and Shane Turner got the better of the Welsh duo Sam Cankett and Nick Kenny 4-2 to lift the men’s pairs trophy, while Ros Hemmings and Pruim edged past Angela Mann and Angela Kirkwood 4-3 in the women’s pairs finale.

SCUTT BOOKS SPOT IN CHAMPIONS WEEK

Connor Scutt became the eighth player to qualify for the latest MODUS Super Series Champions Week after winning the Week 8 final on Saturday night.

‘The Sniper’ defeated former major finalist Colin Osborne 4-3 in the final to join Tom Sykes, Jim Long, Richard Rowlands, Jimmy van Schie, Neil Duff, Paul Hogan and Adam Paxton in the line-up for Champions Week at the end of next month.

Scutt had grabbed the headlines earlier in the week with a sublime 120.24 average during one of his matches in Group A on Wednesday.

It was the second highest match average in the history of the Super Series, just behind Darryl Pilgrim’s record average of 122.69 in 2023.

Pictures: Jonas Hunold/PDC Europe

Alex Moss is a content creator for Darts Corner and the co-host of the Weekly Dartscast podcast. Alex co-founded the Weekly Dartscast in 2017 and has helped produce 350+ episodes of the podcast, with their list of previous guests on the show a who’s who in the world of darts.

Alex also writes content for the Darts Corner blog, including the weekly darts news round-ups and how-to guides.

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