Semi-Finalists (Justin Hewitt, Craig Galliano, Sean Negrette, Ethan Cleverly)

The penultimate Youth Ranking event of the season took place this past weekend. This ranking event was to prove vital for some of the players who are trying to make it into the top 4 in the rankings list and this was the case as we saw a big shock result in the first round.

The current top 2 players in the rankings Justin Hewitt and Sean Negrette have successfully secured a place in the team for the European Cup which takes place in July. However the 4^th place is still up for grabs, either Craig Galliano, Jerome Duarte or Ethan Cleverly will miss out on that final spot in the team. Although it is still not mathematically confirmed It will most likely be Craig & Jerome who make the team as Ethan Cleverly would need to win the next event and depend on other results going his way. The last ranking event which is the main event of the season the National Champion will take place next month and this event will determine who takes the final spot.

First Round Games
In the first round we saw comfortable 3-0 victories for Kaylan Franco against Dylan Duo Jnr, Ethan Cleverly against Nick Garcia & Justin Hewitt against Joseph Ward. Liam Santos defeated Joseph Borge 3-1 in the battle of the newcomers. However the big shock of the first round was Ethan Smith losing 3-1 against a much improved Jayc Alecio. This defeat for Ethan was to break his hopes of a place in the top 4 and in this year’s European Cup squad.

Quarter-Final Games
In the first two Quarter-Final games we saw easy 3-0 victories for Craig Galliano against Kaylan Franco and for Sean Negrette against Liam Santos.Sean hit a 180 on his way to victory. In the third game Ethan Cleverly got the better of Jayc Alecio 3-1 and in the last Quarter-Final game Justin Hewitt defeated the previous ranking event winner Jerome Duarte 3-1.

Semi-Final Games
In the first Semi-Final game Craig Galliano’s powerful scoring was to prove the difference in this game and quickly secured a 3-0 victory over Ethan Cleverly. The second Semi-Final game was a much tighter affair. Both players were hitting the high scores but it was Justin Hewitt with two high checkout finishes of 116 &134 who defeated Sean Negrette 3-2 in a close match.

The Final
The final was contested between Craig Galliano & Justin Hewitt. With both players having one ranking title each they both battled it out to see who could win their second title of the season and what a battle it was to be. The game had everything, high scores of 100 & 140 were being hit for fun and finishes were being checked out with ease. The game went all the way to 3 legs each, in the last leg it was anyone’s game but it was Justin who held his nerve to hit the winning double and secure the title. Without any doubt the best final we have seen all season.

Justin hit three maximum scores of 180 in the Final.

Commiserations to Craig Galliano & Congratulations to Justin Hewitt!

Mons Calpe B claim the Second Division title with 3 games to spare!

This week’s league games saw the second division league title go to Mons Calpe B after they managed to see off their main league rivals Glacis in remarkable fashion to claim the title. Mons Calpe B triumph sees Mons Calpe Sports Club regain the title for a second year after the A Side won it last year. This now means Mons Calpe Sports Club will have two darts teams playing the premier division of Gibraltar Darts.

Lincoln Darts Team edge closer to getting their hands on the 1^st Division title!

Lincoln darts team, mathematically are not champions yet but they have made life easier and are now clear favourites to win their first league title with a 5 point gap over College Cosmos. The Lincoln side managed to demolish their league rivals in remarkable fashion beating Cosmos 9-1.

Captain John Duo was quick to congratulate his side for their brave efforts on social media in which they had a friendly response from the whole GDA family.

Semi-Finalists (Ethan Smith, Craig Galliano, Sean Negrette, Jerome Duarte)

The 4th youth ranking of the season saw the long wait finally come to an end for Jerome Duarte, as he managed to hold his nerve throughout the day and claim his first ranking title.

First Rounds
In the early stages of the event, we saw some crucial wins for some players. Current youth national champion Craig Galliano managed to get the better of Justin Hewitt 2-0. Dylan Duo Jnr managed to cause a major upset by defeating Jayc Alecio 2-1, and Joseph Borge managed to get the better of Elton Victory 2-1 in the battle of the youngsters.

Quarter-Finals
In the Quarter’s Craig managed to whitewash Ethan Cleverly 3-0 with a brilliant display of scoring and finishing. Kaylan Franco almost managed to pull out the biggest upset on the day narrowly losing out to eventual champion Jerome Duarte 3-2 in a last leg decider. Sean Negrette managed to hit a maximum score of 180 against Dylan Jnr in his match and secure a comfortable 3-0 win, while on board 4 Ethan Smith managed to get the better of Joseph Borge 3-0.

Semi-Finals
In the Semi’s Craig Galliano managed to overcome the back to back ranking 4 champion Ethan Smith 3-0 in a fearless display. In the other Semi-Final match Jerome Duarte managed to overcome Sean Negrette 3-1 who previously beat him in the final of the last tournament.

Final
The final saw the top two youth players face off in what had all the makings in being a youth classic. Both players did not fail to disappoint, as the match went all the way to the last and final leg. Jerome got into an early lead, but Craig refused to lose without putting up a fight. Craig managed to level up the match up 3-3, but a determined Jerome Duarte managed to hold his nerve in the last leg in which both players missed chances, and take his first ranking title with a brilliant performance winning 4-3.

Commiserations to Craig Galliano and Congratulations to Jerome Duarte.

Preliminary Round Results
Justin Hewitt 2-0 Joseph Ward
Nick Garcia 2-1 Liam Santos

First Round Results
Craig Galliano 2-0 Justin Hewitt
Ethan Cleverly 2-0 Kaylan Payas
Jerome Duarte 2-0 Nick Garcia
Kaylan Franco 2-0 Kyle Payas
Sean Negrette 2-0 Dylan de los Santos
Dylan Duo Jnr 2-1 Jayc Alecio
Ethan Smith 2-0 Liam Asquez
Joseph Borge 2-1 Elton Victory

Quarter-Final Results
Craig Galliano 3-0 Ethan Cleverly
Jerome Duarte 3-2 Kaylan Franco
Sean Negrette 3-0 Dylan Duo Jnr
Ethan Smith 3-0 Joseph Borge

Semi-Final Results
Craig Galliano 3-0 Ethan Smith
Jerome Duarte 3-1 Sean Negrette

Final
Jerome Duarte 4-3 Craig Galliano

Below is the updated Youth Rankings list after 4 events played so far.

Finalists (John Martin, Justin Broton, Manuel Vilerio & Lesley Ward, Sean Negrette, Joseph Ward)

The GDA League Triples event enjoyed a great turnout of 10 teams in total. All members enjoyed the night of play with a very friendly atmosphere. The night belonged to the trio, who play their local darts for IPA Bolanos Darts Team. They represented their club well by not dropping a single leg throughout the night.

Semi-Finals

Sean Negrette, Joseph Ward and his grandfather Lesley Ward managed to produce the shock of the night against Dylan Duo, Justin Hewitt and Jerome Duarte. Sean, Joseph and Lesley were quick to punish their opponents, capitalising on their missed doubles. They quickly gained a 2-1 lead and a break of throw for the match. In the last leg Joseph Ward managed to make the difference by hitting a 180, this gave his team a healthy lead in the leg and led to Sean Negrete hitting the winning double.

The other semi final was a one sided affair with Justin Broton, Manuel Vilerio and John Martin, dominating their opponents with a 3-0 whitewash over, Kevin O’Callaghan, Nathan Old and Steve March.

Final

In the final Manuel, Justin and John Martin faced up against Sean, Lesley and Joseph who produced an upset in the semi finals. But the IPA Bolanos trio made sure their run continued and they put in a fearless display which led them to claim the title with a 3-0 in the final.

Semi-Finalists (Francis Taylor, Dyson Parody, David Francis, Dylan Duo)

The 4th ranking of the season yet again enjoyed a brilliant turnout with a total of 44 players taking part in the event.

The night once again belonged to David Francis who made it back to back tournament wins with a brilliant display of form throughout the night. David, who had won the last ranked event wanted to prove that his last tournament win was not a one off and he has shown this by winning another ranked event. David is clearly becoming one of the top players in Gibraltar and this season he is in contention to break into the top 4 of the Gibraltar Darts Rankings.

Quarter-Finals

In the Quarter finals of the event we saw some top competitors go head to head with Dyson Parody getting the better of Tony Dawkins 4-1 on board one. Board two saw Dylan Duo ease past Nathan Old 4-0. On board three David Francis managed to whitewash one of the GDA’S top player Justin Broton 4-0, while Francis Taylor enjoyed a 4-1 win over Jadrian Pecino.

Semi-Finals

Dyson Parody faced off the local legend in Francis Taylor who had not made a semi final appearance in sometime. Dyson went on to clinch the match 5-1 in an impressive display against 68 year old Francis Taylor who still shows impressive form.

The other semi final was a much closer affair with David Francis getting the better of Dylan Duo 5-3, this game had everything with both players hitting each other hard with big scores and high checkouts. But it was David who managed to get the crucial break of throw in the end and this gave him a huge advantage to clinch the match.

Final

Dyson Parody vs David Francis

David continued his fine form into the final. He managed to dominate the game early on, he quickly gained a 4-1 lead over Dyson, who had missed some crucial chances early on but it was David who punished him and quickly winning the title 6-1 with a dominate display.

This year’s Youth league has seen some new players and also some of last years players progress to an extremely high standard!

After the first round of games last years National Champion Craig Galliano currently sits in 1st place wining all of his 19 games. In 2nd place we have Jerome Duarte who has only lost one game, siting two points away from Craig.

The eventual League winner will represent Gibraltar at this years BDO Winmau World Masters in the UK.

This seasons Youth League has been sponsored by Argus Insurance.

Below you can see the updated Youth League Table after the first round games. The Youth League will now be split into two divisions for the next round.