{"id":6071,"date":"2023-10-02T10:54:48","date_gmt":"2023-10-02T10:54:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/2023\/10\/column-hr431-hej-hej-and-au-revoir-to-wdf-world-cup-xxii\/"},"modified":"2024-02-14T22:17:47","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T22:17:47","slug":"column-hr431-hej-hej-and-au-revoir-to-wdf-world-cup-xxii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/2023\/10\/column-hr431-hej-hej-and-au-revoir-to-wdf-world-cup-xxii\/","title":{"rendered":"Column #HR431 HEJ\u2026 HEJ… and Au Revoir to WDF World Cup XXIII"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday, October 2, 2023
\n<\/strong>Column HR431\u00a0<\/strong>
\nHEJ… HEJ… and Au Revoir to WDF World Cup XXIII<\/strong><\/p>\n

When this adventure\u00a0called the WDF World Cup XXIII started a few days ago the Old Dart Coach quoted Scottish poet Robert Burns:\u00a0\u201cThe best-laid schemes o\u2019 Mice an\u2019 Men Gang aft agley\u201d…\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The plans for England\u2019s men\u2019s squad to lift\u00a0another overall World Cup gold disappeared like a hot dog in front of Joey Chestnut.\u00a0 (The ODC likes to point out the fact that Chestnut, like himself, is a graduate of THE San Jose State University – called by all The Harvard of the West.\u00a0 The University is so proud of both.)<\/p>\n

The men of\u00a0England needed a lot of help as they had no one in the top four of either the singles or doubles.\u00a0 First, the English needed\u00a0Carles Arola (Catalonia)\u00a0<\/strong>to defeat Netherlands\u00a0Berry Van Peer in the singles semi.\u00a0\u00a0Van Peer completely dominated Arola allowing him 3-doubles in one leg and 2 in another, winning 6-0.\u00a0 Van Peer ended the trashing with a 12-darter.\u00a0 All hope for the Motha Country had a stake driven into their gold dream.<\/p>\n

Germany\u2019s Frink Burns made it to the finals defeating Canadian Robbie Mills.\u00a0\u00a0The pair were even at 2 when Bruns held in 14, then broke for 4-2.\u00a0 Mills answered in kind using 14 and 13 darts to level at 4.\u00a0 Burns held to get a 5th\u00a0leg, one from the finals.\u00a0 Mills failed to force a decider when he couldn\u2019t erase 52 with 6 darts.\u00a0 Burns managed 40 in 3 for trip to the finals.<\/p>\n

Berry Van Peer never trailed in the final, breaking it open when 4-3 with legs of 14, 13 and 17 as Burns suffered a power failure like a Tesla after 500 miles.\u00a0 All Hail Berry Van Peer not only as the singles champion but for joining fellow countrymen Roland Shelton (1993), Raymond van Barneveld (1997, 1999 and 2003), Dick van Dijk (2005) and Wesley Harms (2013) as singles gold winners.<\/p>\n

It was a fait accompli that the English women would win their 14th\u00a0overall gold.\u00a0 The final day question, \u201cWould the English have two ladies in the singles finals?\u201d<\/p>\n

They had a great chance with both Beau Greaves and Deta Hedman in the semis and not facing each other.\u00a0 Netherlands Noa-Lynn Van Leuven broke in front of Beau Greaves 1-nil.\u00a0 Greaves would answer with 5 in a row assisted by Van Leuven\u2019s missed\u00a0doubles that would have reversed the 5-1 score line to a level 3.\u00a0 Van Leuven in 15 temporarily halted Greaves’ victory that came in the next leg – 6-2.<\/p>\n

Deta Hedman took a 3-nil lead over Finland\u2019s Kirsi Viinikainen who played spectacular throughout the World Cup.\u00a0\u00a0Each took a leg for 4-1.\u00a0 Viinikainen got one on the board when Hedman couldn\u2019t close with 11 from 41.\u00a0\u00a0At\u00a04-2 Hedman got rolling for 5-2, then wasted another 10 from 50 allowing Viinikainen to start a 3-leg run that would level the score at 5.\u00a0 The decider was ugly as Viinikainen missed 6 from 16 for the win.\u00a0\u00a0This allowed Hedman 5 from 20 for a trip in the finals.<\/p>\n

Beau Greaves and Deta Hedman had won the gold in the pairs earlier in the day.\u00a0 That surprised no one.\u00a0 They are the best pairs team\u00a0in the world and the ODC predicted the win.\u00a0 Hedman had a lead of 4-3 which Greaves leveled\u00a0a\u00a04.\u00a0 Greaves then took 2 more for 6-4.\u00a0 A leg by Hedman made little difference as Greaves closed it out for the 7-5 win.<\/p>\n

The 4-person final provided the English a chance to deliver the Netherlands a defeat to save a little face.\u00a0 The English led 4-3.\u00a0 The Netherlands’\u00a0Jelle Klaasen started and ended a 4-leg run that put the Dutch ahead 7-4.\u00a0 England did narrow to trail by one, 6-7 and 7-8, when Dutchman Wesley Plaisier used 16 darts concluding with a 1 dart d16 check for the win.\u00a0\u00a0England\u2019s Scott Mitchell in his 100th<\/sup>\u00a0appearance for England took the defeat by Plaisier.<\/p>\n

All Hail to the winners.\u00a0 England can take some solace in the fact that their youth team took the gold\u00a0in everything, dominating runner-up\u00a0Ireland.\u00a0 The English youth event displayed in bright lights the unmistakable caliber of their youth program.<\/p>\n

The performance by the USA was disappointing to say the least.\u00a0 The youth ranked 16th among the 18 nations that sent teams, the men 13th of 43 and the ladies 11th.\u00a0 \u00a0In both the pairs events the USA scored a total of 18 points all by youth.\u00a0 The boys 17 and the girls 1.<\/p>\n

USA youth players Kaden Anderson and Seth Patenaude made it to the quarter finals of the pairs to score points.\u00a0 In that match the USA led 3-1 over the Australian duo of Terence Morton and Jack Spencer.\u00a0 USA had 7 darts to close from 40 for the 4-2 win when they got stung by a 110 finish from Morton.\u00a0 The decider went to the Aussies who would lose in the semis to the eventual winners from England.<\/p>\n

Why did the North Americans perform so poorly?\u00a0 The only North American male to reach a quarterfinals was Canadian Robbie Mills. \u00a0Paula Murphy with a top 16 achieved the best for the women. \u00a0Of the pairs only Canadian Ross Snook and Jake MacMillian reached the quarter finals.\u00a0 For the USA Robbie Phillips and Joe Chaney reached top 64 as did both lady\u2019s pairs. \u00a0Pathetic.<\/p>\n

One reason might be that Covid and machine darts have proved fatal with no vaccine available for either.\u00a0 That\u2019s too simple as other nations have been hit with similar diseases.\u00a0 Is it the USA selection process?\u00a0\u00a0No one knows the answer.<\/p>\n

What must be faced is the reality that North America’s performance in the most prestigious event in the amateur world of darts fell far short of respectable.\u00a0 When once North America had an impact on the World Cup those days seem to be over.\u00a0 This year’s performance was no doubt an outlier of things to come from a region, North America, which has a proud heritage of excellence in sport.<\/p>\n

Until the powers that be discover how to untie the Gordian Knot that is strangling North American darts mediocrity will continue to prevail.<\/p>\n

A final bit of Rodney Dangerfield…<\/p>\n

\u201cI get no respect.\u00a0 When I was born the doctor slapped my mother as my father waited outside.\u00a0 The doctor told him, ‘I\u2019m sorry he lived.’\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Stay thirsty my friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When this adventure\u00a0called the WDF World Cup XXIII started a few days 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Reed","author_link":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/author\/howie-reed\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"When this adventure\u00a0called the WDF World Cup XXIII started a few days ago...","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":17,"user_id":4,"is_guest":0,"slug":"howie-reed","display_name":"Howie Reed","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/111howie.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/111howie.jpg"},"first_name":"Howie","last_name":"Reed","user_url":"http:\/\/www.dartoidsworld.com","job_title":"","description":"Astute, often controversial, and always humorous, the Old Dart Coach, Howie Reed (a former rodeo cowboy and advertising executive), is heralded as the Dean of Darts Chroniclers - the most prolific and widely followed writer ever about our sport. He goes back decades with the legends and knows where the skeletons are buried (just ask any of the ADO and WDF old-timers!). Here are four well-known facts about the Old Dart Coach: 1) he is a Republican, 2) he loves the ladies, 3) he can drink most anybody under the table, and 4) he throws darts as bad as Dartoid."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6071"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6098,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6071\/revisions\/6098"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6071"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=6071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}