Queensland wins Teams after 20 years

It has been a long time coming but Queensland Ladies State Team has finally found a winning combination that was good enough to win the Australian Teams Championships. Playing darts at the Royal Hobart Showgrounds in Hobart in the 28th Australian Darts Championships the Queensland Team won this event for the first time since 1987. In passed years this team has gone very close to winning the title. They have often placed second in recent years but in 2007 they were able to defeat their neminous in Western Australia.

Western Australia Men showed their dominance of this event over the past few years to win their fourth title in a row. They had a close match with Queensland in round four but in the remaining rounds they showed how powerful darts is in the west. The WA Team by bringing in four new players into the team that won the title last year as well as a new Captain highlighted that strength.

Ladies
Round six started this morning with Queensland in a dominant situation. All they required was to win the last two rounds and the title was theirs. Unfortunately for the Northern Territory they felt the full force of that dominance and confidence Queensland had built up over the previous two days to lose 10 - 1. Western Australia was still waiting for a slip up by Queensland to get back in the title hunt with a 9 - 2 victory over New South Wales. Victoria won its fourth round with a victory over the ACT 9 - 2 while the local Tasmanians again had another big win 9 - 2 this time over South Australia.

The final round saw Queensland Ladies State Darts Team win their fourth Australian Ladies Darts Teams title. The Queenslander's have been a powerful force in this event for many years but have come up short on a number of occasions. The clinched the title with a victory over the ACT 10 - 1.

The Queensland Team Captained by Judy Taylor played great darts to complete the seven round competition over the past three days undefeated to clinch the most prestige's trophy in Australian darts. Playing for Queensland (pictured left) were Pam Burr, Anita Tapau, Lauren Peters, Nancy Myers, Kathy McGregor, Cathy Shaw, Sharon Walker and Kerry Crowdey (Manager Karen Finlayson). Other states will be striving hard to stop them in future years but they will really need to work hard to match the strength and depth of this team.

Captain Judy Taylor said after their victory, "Queensland Ladies played the Teams Event with dedication to each game. The Team comradeship was excellent and the belief that to win these Championships was for them achievable was why they did so well. They took each game one at a time and this Team of Ladies have very deservedly won the Championship for 2007 "

Western Australia continued to press on though through their final game. They battled it out against the Northern Territory taking the points 10 - 1 and second place in the Championships. The Western Australian Team, Captained by Betty Hislop played great darts but fell a little short this year. Playing for Western Australia (pictured right) were Dot McLeod, Natalie Carter, Kim Kelly, Louise Ball, Jodie Hislop, Shirley Corker, Stephanie Moriarty and Samara Ash (Manager Agnes Ball). They will be back next year as strong as ever chasing that title they so dearly treasure. Their Captain said, "The WA Ladies gave it everything and we lost just one game to Queensland who played awesome darts to win. To finish second is no disgrace and I am more than happy with all the players."

Tasmania continued its good form of late with another strong win. This round they accounted for Victoria 6 - 5 after being 5 - 2 down to end up placing third in the 2007 Championship. They had suffered two loses: to Queensland and Western Australia. South Australia finished off the competition with their third victory. They had a close match with New South Wales winning 6 - 5

Men
The men's competition was the reverse of the ladies competition. Queensland was hunting the Western Australian Men for any slip up to get back into contention. In this round the Western Australian's kept their record in tact with another strong showing. This time it was New South Wales to be inflicted with a hammering to the tune of 8 - 3. Queensland were still pushing hard accounting for the Northern Territory 9 - 2. South Australia were on a bit of a roller coaster ride through this event but in round six defeated the Tasmanian's 9 - 2 for their third win. Victoria won its third match in a row in a close contest against the luckless ACT 6 - 5.

Western Australia still had to win the final two rounds to win the title. This they managed with a strong performance against the Northern Territory taking victory 10 -1 in the last round. They were not going to give Queensland a chance at catching up to them.

Captain Denis Parr said, "As Western Australian Team Captain I am very proud and privileged to be with the most awesome team to leave WA. All eight players stood tall and they smashed the double when it counted. Queensland was the game. We were 4 - 1 down going into the singles and we won five out of the six to win 6 - 5. Great effort. Also Tasmania should be very proud with the way the event has been run."

The Captain of Western Australia had a very talented team this year, made up from a mix of some outright Champions, some youth and a blend of some relatively new talent that they introduced over the past few years. One of the players has been World Champions and two of them have won World Youth Teams titles. This year's team consisting of Tony David, Brad Austen, Kim Lewis, Kerry Whear, Beau Anderson, Kyle Anderson, Lindsay Haji Ali and Damon Heta. (Bob Grayson - Manager).

Queensland was chasing Western Australia all the way. They had to win in case Western Australia slipped up. They kept the pressure on but the victory they had over the Northern Territory in the last round was not enough to close the gap. It was a strong performance though winning 7 - 4.

Barry McLeod captained the Queensland Team. He commented afterwards, " I am very proud of the performance of all the players and their results. Everyone always gave 110 % and although we did not finish in first position this time we have previously and will do so again. All the players have achieved personal goals at these Championships and the experience of playing at this level will certainly improve them. Our congratulations to the winners and the Hosts"

Representing Queensland (pictured right) were players, Ian Brown, Russel Homer, Jeremy Fagg, John Weber, James Bailey, Lindsay Wells, Geoff Kime and Jason Murdoch. Rob Gunn - Manager)

South Australia and the New South Wales Teams had a close match in this final round. South Australia getting home 6 - 5 to place fourth overall. Victoria also finished off strongly with a 9 - 2 win over Tasmania for their four wins in a row and a third placing.

Australian Teams Darts Championship Results:
LADIES
Round One: VIC 8 - NSW 3, TAS 10 - NT 1, QLD 8 - SA 3, WA 11 - ACT 0
Round Two: NSW 6 - NT 5, WA 10 - SA 1, QLD 8 - VIC 3, TAS 11 - ACT 0
Round Three: NSW 8 - ACT 3, SA 7 - NT 4, WA 8 - VIC 3, QLD 10 - TAS 1
Round Four: QLD 8 - WA 3, TAS 8 - NSW 3, SA 10 - ACT 1, VIC 10 - NT 1
Round Five: VIC 6 - SA 5, QLD 9 - NSW 2, NT 8 - ACT 3, WA 10 - TAS 1
Round Six: TAS 9 - SA 2, QLD 10 - NT 1, VIC 9 - ACT 2, WA 9 - NSW 2
Round Seven: SA 6 - NSW 5, TAS 6 - VIC 5, WA 10 - NT 1, QLD 10 - ACT 1

Final Points:
Ladies: 1st: QLD 14 - 62, 2nd: WA 12 - 61, 3rd: TAS 10 - 47, 4th: VIC 8 - 44, 5th: SA 6 - 34, 6th: NSW 4 - 29, 7th: NT 2 - 21, 8th: ACT 0 - 10

MEN
Round One: NSW 6 - VIC 5, NT 8 - TAS 3, QLD 8 - SA 3, WA 10 - ACT 1
Round Two: NT 7 - NSW 4, WA 9 - SA 2, QLD 7 - VIC 4, TAS 8 - ACT 3
Round Three: NSW 8 - ACT 3, SA 9 - NT 2, WA 8 - VIC 3, QLD 7 - TAS 4
Round Four: WA 6 - QLD 5, TAS 8 - NSW 3, SA 7 - ACT 4, VIC 9 - NT 2
Round Five: VIC 8 - SA 3, QLD 9 - NSW 2, NT 6 - ACT 5, WA 10 - TAS 1
Round Six: SA 9 - TAS 2, QLD 9 - NT 2, VIC 6 - ACT 5, WA 8 - NSW 3
Round Seven: SA 6 - NSW 5, VIC 9 - TAS 2, WA 11 - NT 0, QLD 7 - ACT 4

Final Points:
Men: 1st: WA 14 - 62, 2nd: QLD 12 - 52, 3rd: VIC 8 - 44 4th: SA 8 - 39, 5th:NT 6 - 27, 6th: NSW 4 - 31, 7th: TAS 4 - 28, 8th: ACT 0 - 22.

Competition at the 28th Puma Australian Darts Championships and Sponsored by Recreation and Sport Tasmania and Events Tasmania continues tomorrow at the Royal Hobart Showgrounds starting at 10.00am with the Australian Singles.