Dutch Open 2011!

08-02-2011 | Antony Dundas

Hello Forum Readers! Poison Arrow here. Hope you got a chance to read my blog from Day 1 of the Dutch Open on the BDO website. If not, i have it here plus the rest of the action from the 33rd Dutch Open Darts.

Hello from Veldhoven folks! Poison Arrow here giving you a run down on the general goings on here at the 33rd Dutch Open Darts!

Today we saw the Pairs tournaments, as well as the last minute arrivals of some players. One very notable absentee this year is the legend himself, Mr Martin Fitzmaurice. The VIP room seemed so much quieter without him!

However, the quiet wasn't to last! Soon the VIP room was full of the best players in the world and their guests. There was also a welcomed return for Tony Martin and Anastasia Dobromyslova!

At the beginning of today's play, some top players had been delayed on their various flights. Scott Waites and Lisa Ashton to name but two! However, the tournament carried on regardless. There were some very formidable pairings in both the Men's and Ladies pairs. Possibly the biggest surprise came in the Semi Final of the Ladies Pairs. Deta Hedman and Karen Lawman took on the pairing of Sue Gulliver and Zoe Jones. Some very impressive stuff from all four ladies in this match, however it was Zoe and Sue who took the match and earned their place in Sunday's Final. In the Men's competition, Ross Montgomery and Martin Adams came through a hard match with Ste Bunting and Robbie Green to win their place in the Men's Pairs Final. They will take on Martin Atkins and John Walton who defeated Paul Gibbs and Paul Hogan. As usual, some fantastic darts were thrown, with one of Ross and Martin's matches finishing 3-0, and their average was in the 120's!

Now we move on to the Venue and running of the tournaments. On several occasions today I had heard of people who had paid their entries well in advance being told they were still in arrears. There was obviously some problems somewhere but not a lot seemed to be getting done to fix this. As for the tournaments themselves, as always they were immaculately run. In my humble opinion, the tournaments in the United Kingdom should use the Dutch Open as a benchmark. There was hardly any use of the microphone to shout for players and the tournaments seemed to always be running on or ahead of schedule. One major criticism I have is with regards to crowd control. Whilst watching the Men's Semis, some people were acting very stupidly in the audience. Several of them kept making a Shhh noise when players were throwing. I was an obvious distraction for the guys playing and yet the officials did nothing. I was expecting one or two officials to call for a bit of order or even ask the guilty parties to exit the venue. However, nothing was done. Apart from this, today was a very good day and it was fantastic to see some wonderful darts being thrown.

Tomorrow is the Singles competitions. I must say i'm very much looking forward to taking part and watching tomorrow! If the standard was as good as today, we're in for a terrific day of darts!


Saturday was the start of the singles, so Friday night was a quiet one for all the players with an early start! Some players were slightly luckier and didn't play until later, so hangovers were permitted! Whilst doing a walk round some of the boards, it became quite clear that the standard of darts was going to be very high all day. Some of the stars of the show were young Dutch players that I didn't recognise. Definitely faces to watch out for in the future. As always, the Singles tournaments were running very quickly and smoothly. Again, I would suggest that the organizers of the Opens in the UK look to the Dutch Open and take a leaf out of their book! The tournaments in the UK are run very well, don't get me wrong. However, it seems like the mic is used a fraction of the time at the Dutch and there is always usually one or two boards running an hour late due to there not being a marker or players turning up late.

Sunday saw the final stages of all the tournaments, plus the Dutch Open Youth. I have to say it was a welcomed change to see the youths playing at the same time as the Men's and Ladies. There are some fantastic youth players over in Holland and definitely future champions. First up was the Men's Semi Finals. Tony O'Shea and Dean Winstanley were first up and even though the scoreline suggests otherwise, it was a close match! Both played well but Dean was the more consistent. Martin Adams took on John Boy Walton next, and it was another great match to watch! It was always going to be close, but Adams came out on top to secure a Lakeside Final rematch! The first of the youth finals was the youngest category. Justin Tergouw took on Lars Fransen in the final. The biggest cheer was reserved for Justin. He hit a 180 in the final and the 2,500 strong crowd in the arena and the people in the VIP room all went crazy, myself included! However he was unable to win and Fransen took the title. The girls were up next and it was yet another high class match! Louise Bunk took on Kaylee de Priester. This match was rather one sided, with de Priester hitting a 180 en route to a 3-0 victory. The last of the Youth finals was between Bjorn Fransen and Mike Zuidwijk. The standard was kept very high as Zuidwijk won the final 4-0. After the presentations, the Ladies Pairs final was next. Irina Armstrong and Dee Bateman took on Sue Gulliver and Zoe Jones. The match was delicately poised at 3-3 before Sue and Zoe made a vital breakthrough and went on to take the titles 5-3, Zoe hitting a 180 in the process! In the Men's Pairs, Martin Adams and Ross Montgomery took on John Walton and Martin Atkins. All four men played extremely well but it was Adams and Montgomery who took the titles. It was also brought to my attention that when they were practising in the VIP room beforehand, Ross and Martin hit a 12 darter! What's newsworthy about that, I hear you ask! Well, it was a 12 darter at 701! The perfect leg! Our next final was the Ladies Singles! Trina Gulliver took on Julie Gore in a tense encounter! However, the Golden Girl was too strong and added yet another title to her ever growing list! That brought us to the Men's Final. Adams v Winstanley. Both players had been playing well all day. Adams perhaps had the advantage after playing 2 matches on the stage beforehand. Dean wasn't going to let this bother him though! There was nothing to separate them after the first four sets. History repeated itself though, and Martin Adams retained his Dutch Open title with a 3-2 sets victory. He also became the first man since Steve Beaton in 1995 to retain the title.

After the conclusion, I had heard some complaints being made. Let's face it, no tournament is perfect and there's always going to be complaints from somewhere! I have to congratulate the officials of the NDB on a very well run tournament. I would also like to thank Henk Westerdaal and everyone in the Press Room for helping me over the weekend. Also, a big congratulations to all the players for making the Dutch Open the tournament it is!

Well, that's about it from me! Thanks for reading my report and I will be back for the Scottish Open in 2 weeks time!

Before I go, if anyone has any feedback from my blogs, please feel free to send me an e-mail! ThePoisonArrow@hotmail.co.uk - All constructive criticism is welcomed!

Until then, may your darts fly true!

Poison Arrow