Darts defense on Target
Defending Champions Western Australia Men started strongly by hammering Victoria in the opening round. The WA Ladies Team on the other hand had a close victory the Victorians at the Australian Men's & Ladies Teams Championships at the Croatian Club in Adelaide at the 27th Puma Australian Darts Championships. Both WA Teams have world-class players participating and the experience of these players came to the fore today. This is the event all players at Australian Championships want to win and with the depth of the talent in the WA Teams they will be hard to stop again in 2006.
Men
The pressure is on Western Australia to defend their title and they came out firing and blitzed their opposition 9 - 2. Victoria has plenty of talent in their team, but today they could not match the accuracy of the WA players darts. South Australia put in a strong showing in this round in front of there home crowd winning 8 - 3 against NSW. The ACT took care of Tasmania 8 - 3 while Queensland were too strong for the NT.
Some large wins in round one but round two saw the competition tighten up with a few really close matches. Victoria fought back to account for the ACT 6 - 5 and their first win. Tasmania also made the winners list defeating the NT. Queensland lost to South Australia 7 - 4 and WA continued their domination of their opposition with another strong win, this time over NSW. After just two rounds only two teams remained undefeated. (SA Team win number two)
Round three and win number three for South Australia. This team was pleasing the home crowd with their performances so far as they easily accounted for Tasmania 9 - 2. WA showed its power to the NT team for a 10 - 1 victory. The ACT got back into the winners circle for its second win with a comfortable victory over NSW. The closest match was between Queensland and Victoria. Queensland winning 7 - 4.
To stop WA winning the title for the 24th time in 42 years it may come down to the round five clash between WA and SA. It should be a ripper of a match. Other teams are not out of contention yet but teams like Queensland, Victoria or ACT are going to have to pull out some big darts to stop them.
Ladies
In the ladies competition the Western Australian LadiesTeam started with a very close match with Victoria. WA won the opening two triples, but only one of the three pairs to see the match at 3 - 2 to WA before the singles games. Victoria's Hadley, Cassar and Deveraux won their three singles legs against their WA opponents 2 - 0 in legs. The other three singles went to WA's McLeod, Hislop and Carter winning 2 - 1 in legs in all games. Just enough for the win to WA and the defending Champions chasing their twentieth Australian Ladies Darts Teams title since 1972 when this event was first played had past test number one. Another top performing Team in this round was Queensland who outclassed the NT 10 - 1. Tasmania also had a 10 - 1 win over the ACT and South Australia also grabbed a win against NSW. (Tasmanian Helen Johnston left)
By the end of round two, Queensland, Tasmania and WA remained the only undefeated team, highlighting how close the competition was in the ladies event. WA had another close battle with NSW winning 7 - 4. Betty Hislop WA Captain said, "We expected a tough game there and we got it. It was a lot closer on the dart boards than the score indicated." Queensland easily accounted for the SA team 8 - 3 while Tasmania continued its dominance with another big win, this time over the NT. Victoria after that first round loss to WA took out their revenge on ACT winning 10 - 1.
The round three clash between Victoria and Queensland was a really close match. Victoria came from behind to snatch the win by claiming the last two singles and the match 6 - 5. WA smashed the NT on the boards to the tune of a 10 - 1 victory. NSW won their first match against the luckless ACT team while Tasmania continued on its merry way with another strong showing defeating SA 8 - 3
At this stage only WA and Tasmania are undefeated and it could be down to the last round when these two teams clash Wednesday morning to see who wins the title. Queensland is still in the hunt for the title and could have a big say in who is going to win the 2006 title as it still need to play WA and Tasmania. Mean while, Victoria if they can win against Tasmania first thing tomorrow could be looking at the title. Right - Joanne Hadley Victoria)
Competition continues tomorrow at the Croatian Club starting at 10.00am with the next three rounds of the Teams Competition
Today's Results:
LADIES
Round One: WA 6 - VIC 5, TAS 10 - ACT 1, SA 7 - NSW 4, QLD 10 - NT 1
Round Two: WA 7 - NSW 4, QLD 8 - SA 3, VIC 10 - ACT 1, TAS 11 - NT 0
Round Three: NSW 10 - ACT 1, WA 10 - NT 1, VIC 6 - QLD 5, TAS 8 - SA 3MEN
Round One: WA 9 - VIC 2, ACT 8 - TAS 3, SA 8 - NSW 3, QLD 8 - NT 3
Round Two: WA 10 - NSW 1, SA 7 - QLD 4, VIC 6 - ACT 5, TAS 7 - NT 4
Round Three: ACT 7 - NSW 4, WA 10 - NT 1, QLD 7 - VIC 4, SA 9 - TAS 2
