Finalists (Justin Hewitt & Craig Galliano)
A total of 16 youngsters came along to the first Youth Ranking event of the 2017/18 season which took place on Wednesday 15th November, and all players were hoping to claim the first title of the season.
Just recently it was confirmed that the 2018 Youth European Cup will be taking place in Turkey so the race for qualification started off with this event. At the end of the season the top 4 players in the rankings will be the ones who earn a spot to represent Gibraltar at this prestigious event.
First Round
In the first round we saw comfortable 3-0 victories for Craig Galliano over newcomer Keith Medhurst Jnr, Sean Negrette against Joseph Borge, Ethan Smith against Joseph Ward, Justin Hewitt against Jayc Alecio and Dylan Duo Jnr against Elton Victory. Dylan de los Santos managed to defeat Liam Santos 3-2 in a last leg decider and Kyle Mor managed to defeat Andre Luque by the same scoreline 3-2. However, the shock result of the first round was Kaylan Franco defeating the number 3 seed Jerome Chipol in straight legs 3-0.
Quarter-Finals
In the first Quarter-Final game Kaylan Franco, who had just defeated Jerome Chipol 3-0 in the first round managed to continue his high scoring to defeat Dylan de los Santos 3-0.
In the second Quarter-Final the number one seed Justin Hewitt managed to defeat newcomer Kyle Mor 3-0 in what was a comfortable victory for Justin.
In the third Quarter-Final game Ethan Smith defeated Dylan Duo Jnr 3-1, surprisingly this game was tighter than excepted as youngster Dylan managed to put Ethan under pressure in a couple of legs resulting in Ethan missing several darts at double, however in the end it was Ethan who came out on top with the victory.
In the final Quarter-Final game Craig Galliano last years league winner faced the number two seed Sean Negrette. This game was expected to be a tight one however, Craig’s power scoring was too much for Sean resulting in a 3-0 win for Craig.
Semi-Finals
In the first Semi-Final match Justin Hewitt came up against Kaylan Franco. Kaylan had won his previous two games 3-0 and so had Justin, so this game promised to be an exciting one. However, Kaylan’s fantastic run came to and end as Justin’s scoring was too much for him to handle, Justin won the game in straight legs 3-0.
In the second Semi-Final match Craig Galliano faced Ethan Smith in the battle of the team mates, this game also promised to be an exciting one but it was Craig who came out on top defeating Ethan in straight legs 3-0.
Final
Both players came into the final without having lost a single leg of darts all night. This final looked like it was going to be a very tight one and indeed it was. Justin managed to win the first leg but Craig was quick to respond to put the game back level 1-1. Craig managed to hit a crucial 180 in the third leg and managed to win the leg to take the lead for the first time 2-1. In the fourth leg Craig’s power scoring got him down to a double first and he took it out first time to break the throw and extended his lead 3-1. The next leg was crucial for Justin as he was just one leg away from defeat, he managed to hit a crucial 180 to get him down to the double first and he took it out with ease, he also managed to win the following leg and get the game back level 3-3. In the last and final leg it was anyones game but in the end Craig managed to hold his nerve and take out a 70 checkout to win the game and take the first ranking title of the season.
Congratulation to Craig Galliano, commiserations to Justin Hewitt!
Last 16 Results
Craig Galliano 3-0 Keith Medhurst Jnr
Sean Negrette 3-0 Jospeh Borge
Dylan Duo Jnr 3-0 Elton Victory
Ethan Smith 3-0 Joseph Ward
Kaylan Franco 3-0 Jerome Chipol
Dylan De Los Santos 3-2 Liam Santos
Kyle Mor 3-2 Andre Luque
Justin Hewitt 3-0 Jayc Alecio
Quarter-Final Results
Craig Galliano 3-0 Sean Negrette
Ethan Smith 3-1 Dylan Duo Jnr
Kaylan Franco 3-0 Dylan De Los Santos
Justin Hewitt 3-0 Kyle Mor
Semi-Finals
Craig Galliano 3-0 Ethan Smith
Justin Hewitt 3-0 Kaylan Franco
Final
Craig Galliano 4-3 Justin Hewitt
High Finishes (+100)
Craig Galliano – 101
180’s
Justin Hewitt x2, Craig Galliano x1 & Sean Negrette x1
