England Youth Grand Prix,
Manhattan Club, Harrogate,
Well, turned out to be quite a day at Harrogate. The turnout was poor but the quality of darts certainly made up for it and the enthusiasm was in abundance.
This started from the very first round robin group games. In group A Luke Littler came up with 2 x 180’s whilst playing against Eleanor Cairns and a 3rd one against Mathew Holmes. He also managed a 106 out shot in his first game of the group. Eleanor duly scored a 180 in her game against Daniel Stephenson and the group ended up being won by Luke with Eleanor coming a creditable 2nd to both go through to the knockout round. Luke's incredible performance was to continue until the vey end.
In group B there were a couple more great out shots with Charlie Manby hitting a 143 and Amy Evans getting a 116 check out. Charlie Manby also came up with a magic 180 in the 2nd leg of his last game. Charlie then went on to win the group with Lewis Coates taking the 2nd spot and both players also progressing to the knock out event.
Both groups C and D had only 3 players in each group. George Ripley and Jack Puckrin were 180 scorers in these groups and Callum Beddow had a super 14 dart leg. Group C saw George Ripley and Oliver Urry go through to the knockout stages and Group D ended up with Jack Puckrin and Callum Beddow finishing first and second.
The next game to be played was the girls' knockout. With only 3 players entered in the girls this meant 1 player advanced straight to the final, that person was Lauren Stokoe leaving Amy and Eleanor to battle it out for the other place. Eleanor was the eventual winner of this game and subsequently went on to play Lauren and take the title including a fantastic out shot of 132 with bull, bull and double 16. I kid you not these kids are awesome. England Darts you have 14 super stars in your midst, nurture them for all they are worth.
Now for the big knockout of the day which brought Luke Littler v Lewis Coates to the first game. This resulted in Luke winning 3-0 with more cracking darts from both players. George Ripley and Jack Puckrin came next with George taking the match 3-1. Then it was down to Charlie Manby and Eleanor Cairns with Eleanor taking it all the way to eventually lose to Charlie 3-2. Another excellent game of darts from both players, nerves were really rattling I think. Last in a bid to make the semis was Callum Beddow and Oliver Urry, Callum scored a 180 on his way to a victory of 3-1 and I can honestly say I have never seen a more excited kid to win through to the semi finals. He was absolutely ecstatic and showed it, in fact this kid smiled all day and I really want to congratulate him on his sportsmanship. Don’t ever change Callum, you made your dad really proud yesterday, it was written all over his face.
So, now we were down to the semi finals and on to 7 legs per game. Luke played George and took the match 4-1. Charlie went on to win the 2nd semi final also taking it 4-1. At that it was obvious that we were all set for a magic finale to the day. Luke took the first leg in 14 darts with a 47, 100, 125, 180 and finished on 49 in 2 dart!!! 2nd leg was a little lesser pace and Luke finished first leaving Charlie on 20. Next leg from Luke was an 18 darter and he followed up with a 15 darter including a 180, a 139 and subsequently taking the game out with his next 3 darts of 25. On to the 5th leg and yet another 15 darter with scores of 140,91,100,145 and checking out on 25. Unlucky Charlie I don’t think anyone could have lived with Luke in that final, he was absolutely awesome.
Well that was it, a great day of darts, a wonderful group of players and some really committed parents. Many thanks to the Manhatten Club for hosting the event, it’s got a great set up for darts and they treated us very well. Thanks to Trevor Spencer for his assistance although he had to leave early for super league, you don’t know what you missed Trevor. Thanks also to Rhian Barton and Euan who took all the photographs and last but not least to Alex Pride who acted as club representative for the day as Christian is suffering with Covid. Get well soon Christian and hopefully we will meet next time.
Good luck to all who are going to Bridlington at the weekend, I hope to see you there, and to those who can’t go I wish you all the very best for the future.
Jean Haywood
England Darts Tournament Director.