WA strikes early at the Australian Junior Darts Championships

Western Australia players made both the Girls and Boy's Finals on day one of the Australian Junior Darts Championships but were only successful in one of the finals. Queensland were successful in the other final.

Following the Opening Ceremony, the first event for the week the Girls and Boy's Australian Doubles were contested.

Australian Junior Boys Doubles

The round robin competition was split into two pools, which resulted in some very close competition in the boy's event. Pool 'A' saw a very close competition with New South Wales players Mitchell Clegg and James Gregory winning all of their matches (5 wins 10 legs) to move into the finals. Joining them in the finals from this Pool was South Australia's Michael Conlan and Bradley Vine (3 wins 7 legs). They lost matches to the NSW pair and Victoria's Travis Richards and Nathan Shelley, but three wins were enough to advance. Three of the remaining four teams had two wins each.

Pool 'B' was a little more open with all pairings losing at least one match. At the end off the round robin Western Australia's Robert Carpanoni and Gavin Dann finished with four wins (4 wins 9 legs), which saw them advance to the semi finals. The other semi finalist can from Tasmania. Sean Methven and Liam Phillpot had played some great darts and finished with three wins (3 wins 7 legs), which was enough to advance. The four remaining pairs all finished with two wins a peace highlighting how close this Pool was.

With the completion of the preliminary rounds the semi finals in the Australian Junior Boy's Doubles were:
Mitchell Clegg & James Gregory (NSW) v Sean Methven & Liam Phillpot (TAS)
Robert Carpanoni & Gavin Dann (WA) v Michael Conlan & Bradley Vine (SA)

The first semi final saw a very close contest that went the full distance. The difference between the two pairings was the cleaner finishing by Mitchell Clegg. The Tassie boys missed a couple of opportunities which the NSW pair capitalised on. The legs went with the darts through the first four legs which usually had their opponent sitting on a finish ready to pounce if the chance arose. The fifth and final leg saw the Tassie combination of Sean Methven & Liam Phillpot away first. The NSW pair of Mitchell Clegg & James Gregory (left) was matching everything the Tassie boy's were throwing. It came down to the double. Methven had first chance but just missed, opening the opportunity for Clegg. He finished the match off with a twenty finish with his third dart to make the final. The score being 3 - 2 in a very close match.

The second semi saw a one sided result but the match was a lot closer than what the score line indicated. Robert Carpanoni & Gavin Dann won through 3 - 1 over Michael Conlan & Bradley Vine from South Australia. Legs went with the darts through the first three legs with all players throwing well. The fourth leg saw SA away first. Scoring was good by both pairings. Vine scored 111 to leave his partner 40 to take the leg on the next shot, but Carpanoni had scored 98 on his last shot to leave 40 as well. Dann was up to the occasion and finished the leg off in two darts to move into the final.

Boys Doubles Semi Final Averages
1st Semi Final
Mitchell Clegg 26.26 & James Gregory 19.08 (NSW)
Sean Methven 20.63 & Liam Phillpot 19.25 (TAS)
2nd Semi Final
Robert Carpanoni 21.43 & Gavin Dann 20.49 (WA)
Michael Conlan 19.94 & Bradley Vine 20.83 (SA)

The top pairing from each Pool moved into the final for a shot at the title. The Final was shaping up to be a cracker with all players throwing great averages in the semi finals. Unfortunately for the New South Wales pair they came up against a pair in very hot form. WA's Carpanoni and Dann (right) performed a great display of accurate darts. The first leg saw the WA pair finish in 21 darts with Carpanoni finish from 40 with three darts. The second leg saw his partner finish from 40 again with three darts for a 24-darter. The third leg saw the pressure rise on all players. The darts were accurate but the big scores went missing a little. Clegg and Gregory had a chance to break back a leg here but missed the chance. Carpanoni missed finishing from 60 but Dann cleaned up with a two dart 20 finish to win the title. Australian had new Junior Boy's Doubles Champions from Western Australia. The match was a lot closer than the 3 - 0 score line indicated. Then WA took every opportunity that came their way where as the NSW pair could not grab their chances when they arose.

Boys Doubles Final Averages
Robert Carpanoni (WA) 24.38
Gavin Dann (WA) 24.34
Mitchell Clegg (NSW) 24.33
James Gregory (NSW) 18.87

Australian Junior Girls Doubles

The Girl's were not to be out down by the Boy's. Their competition was just as close. In Pool "A" a tie breaker was required to determine the winner of the pool. At the completion of the round robin WA's Kirsten Nunn and Tarmeka Nestor and Victoria's Emily Wills and Nikki King finished up with four wins each. To see who would finish top of the Poole a tie breaker was played which saw the WA win. This Poole was very tight with each pairing winning at least one match.

Brie Peters and Kayla Kennedy from Queensland finished in top place in Pool "B" after defeating all opposition. They completed the round robin with 5 wins and 10 legs. A tie breaker was also required to find second place after WA's Krissy Smith and Shanna Carpanoni (right) and New South Wales Kylie Walker and Hanna Williams finished the round robin with three wins each. Smith and Carpanoni came through to advance to the semi finals.

With the completion of the preliminary rounds the semi finals for the Australian Junior Girl's Doubles were:
Kirsten Nunn & Tarmeka Nestor (WA) v Krissy Smith & Shanna Carpanoni (WA)
Kayla Kennedy & Brie Peters (QLD) v Emily Wills & Nikki King (VIC)

The first semi final saw the two WA Pairings playing off against each other in a very close contest. Legs went with darts for the first few legs. An opportunity opened up for Smith and Carpanoni in the third leg when Nunn and Nestor missed chances to finish the leg. They grabbed that chance when Smith pegged double 8 to take a 2 - 1 lead. Smith and Carpanoni where away first in the fourth leg which gave them the advantage. They look that opportunity and Carpanoni finished of from 8 with her second dart to move into the final.

Pool 'B' saw some experience junior players shape up against each other. This was going to be a great semi final and the players did not let the crowd watching down. The semi final went the full distance with Queensland's Kayla Kennedy and Brie Peters winning 3 -2 over Emily Wills and Nikki King from Victoria. The Victorian Pair were away first and claimed the first leg with a great finish of 80 in two darts by Wills. They jumped on Queensland in the second leg after the Queensland pair missed the double. The third leg saw both pairs miss chances at the double. Queensland took the leg and were now back in the semi. They took the fourth leg with the darts to see the semi final come down to the final leg. Kennedy and Peters had their confidence back and were away first in the deciding leg. 28 darts later they were into the final.

Girls Doubles Semi Final Averages
1st Semi Final
Kirsten Nunn 13.68 & Tarmeka Nestor 16.08 (WA)
Krissy Smith 14.43 & Shanna Carpanoni 14.01 (WA)

2nd Semi Final
Kayla Kennedy 15.77 & Brie Peters 18.83 (QLD)
Emily Wills 17.44 & Nikki King 13.75 (VIC)

The Grand Final was played by some nervous Girl's that developed into a once sided result unfortunately as all players had played great darts leading up to the final. The final started with the Queensland pairing of Kennedy and Peters (right) away first and taking the first leg. All players were struggling to find the big scores. The second leg was the decider in this final. Both pairs had their chances to win this leg. Finally the Queensland pair cracked the double to take a 2 - 0 lead. The third leg again saw both combinations have a shot at the double. It came down to Peters who finished from 17 with two darts to claim the title. Congratulations to Brie Peters and Kayla Kennedy on being crowned 2007 Australian Junior Girls Doubles Champions. (A third Australian Doubles crown for Brie Peters)

Girls Doubles Finals Averages
Brie Peters (QLD) 16.59
Kayla Kennedy (QLD) 14.04
Krissy Smith (WA) 14.41
Shanna Carpanoni (WA) 15.41

Tomorrow sees the final four rounds of the Australian Teams Championships.
Round One was played this afternoon.

The New South Wales Darts Council (TDC) is hosting the 26th Puma Australian Junior Darts Championships for the Darts Federation of Australia at Mounties Club at Mount Pritchard. Over 50 of Australia's best youth players are contesting these Championships, which run from the 8th-14th of January 2007.

Yesterday all of the Players Officials and Supporters got together for a meal and a renewal of friendships. Over 100 people attended making the first function of these Championships a huge success.

The NSWDC have supplied those attending these Championships with a magnificent venue with plenty of room.

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