Titles are still open

The top 64 ladies and 64 men dart players in the country have been sent by every state/territory to the Redlands Multi Sports Club in the Brisbane chasing the most prestigious trophy in darts. When asked, what event means the most to players at Australian Darts Championships, the majority of dart players that represent their state will say the Teams Event. The most sought after trophy at any Australian Darts Championships is the title of Australian Darts Teams Champions. There are numerous interstate rivalries and countless life long friendships created at these championships, but when the Teams event commences those friendships go out the door. It's all or nothing for your state. The mood in the venue all of a sudden becomes electrified, the support for your fellow teammate becomes loud and supportive, every dart thrown is watched intensely by your teammates and the crowd watching, the pressure and anxiety builds, its darts at its best.

Defending Champions in the Men's and Ladies Teams Championship is Western Australia. The Men are after their sixth titles in a row while the Ladies are after title number two in a row. Both of these Teams are full of very experienced players. For example the men's WA team has three men that have represented Australia in some form, be it on the world stage at the World Cup or Asia Pacific Cup and the WA women have a 20 year veteran that has won every Australian Championship title at some stage over the years, two players who have represented Australia at numerous World Cups and Asia Pacific Cups, three Australian Singles Champions and the list goes on. Both Teams will be hard to stop again in 2009; however there are a number of states that will be expecting to win the title. Queensland is always around the mark and the final result often comes down to a battle between WA and Queensland. South Australia Men and Tasmanian Ladies should be in the hunt as they have strong Teams. There is often upsets throughout this event and any State can win at this level.

Men
Western Australia placed the pressure on all of the remaining states as they started off their title defence with a comfortable win 9 - 2 over New South Wales. Queensland put in a strong showing in this round easily accounting for the Northern Territory 7 - 4. The NT Men had the Queenslanders under pressure early, but the Maroons came home strongly to claim the match. NT could be a danger side to most opposition this year. Australian Capital Territory out played South Australia 6 - 5 a great win for the players from the Capital here. Victoria spanked the Tasmania Men whom seem to be struggling a little at this early stage 9 - 2.

New South Wales came back strongly to find some good form for strong win, this time over the Australian Capital Territory 7 - 4. South Australia (pictured right) was back in good form in the second round accounting for the Northern Territory 9 - 2. Victoria lost its first match to Western Australia 7 - 4 in a great match. Queensland started to flex its muscles at the expense of Tasmania, this time winning 9 - 2. After just two rounds of competition, only two teams remained undefeated - Western Australia and Queensland.

Round three and the South Australian Team accounted for Tasmania easily winning 11 - 0. Western Australia showed its power to the Northern Territory Team in this round for a 9 - 2 victory. The closest match was between New South Wales and Queensland with the host state sneaking through 6 - 5. Victoria got back into the winners' circle for its second win with a comfortable victory over Australian Capital Territory 7 - 4

Western Australia keeps rolling out the victories and this time it was Tasmania that was pegged out on winning 10 - 1. Queensland had a great tussle in this round with a come from behind victory over South Australia. That lose to South Australia sunk their hopes of the title this year, Queensland winning 6 - 5. New South Wales was hitting the right doubles at the right time to score their second victory 7 - 4 against Victoria. The battle of the territories saw the Australian Capital Territory take the honours this year defeating the Northern Territory (pictured left) 6 - 5.

 

Western Australian Captain Henry Forman said, "On the defence of our title so far, we have achieved what we wanted to do on the first day. It was not easy. It was a very hard day for us and that will not change. We are looking forward to tomorrow".

To stop Western Australia winning the title for the 27th time in 45 years it may come down to the round six clash between Western Australia and Queensland on the second day of the Teams Championships. It should be a ripper of a match with the winner being the favourite to take out the title. Neither have lost a round so far. South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory have all lost two rounds, so they would need a lot of luck to change their chances at winning this year's Championship.

Ladies
In the ladies competition the Western Australian Ladies Team started with a comfortable win over
New South Wales. Unfortunately for the NSW Ladies that stepped up against WA first up; hard job winning this match. 7 - 4 win to WA. A substantial win to launch their defence of the title. They are chasing their twenty first Australian Ladies Darts Teams title since 1972 when this event was first played passing test number one. Another top performing Team in this round was South Australia who accounted for the Australian Capital Territory 11 - 0. Queensland started strongly pleasing the big home crowd. They showed their brilliant darting skills to the Northern Territory Ladies winning 10 - 1. The final match saw Tasmania out last the Victorians to win 6 - 5 in the closest match of the round.

By the end of round two, Queensland and South Australia remained the only undefeated team, highlighting how close the competition was in the ladies event. Queensland had another resounding victory, this time over Tasmania winning 8 - 3. New South Wales after that first round loss to Western Australia were in the winner's circle after a confidence building performance against the Australian Capital Territory winning 10 - 1. South Australia continued its dominance with another big win, this time over the Northern territory 9 - 2. The defence of the title by Western Australia is looking a little shaky after a 6 - 5 loss to Victoria.

The round three clash between Tasmania and South Australia was expected to be a really close match. Tasmania jumped the South Australian's early and never let up on the pressure to win comfortably 7 - 4. Western Australia got back into the title race after losing to Victoria in the previous round by defeating the Northern Territory. Western Australia comfortably winning this round 10 - 1. Queensland continued its strong showing for another victory, this time defeating New South Wales 8 - 3. Victoria won another match to keep their chances alive against the luckless ACT team winning 10 - 1

The fourth round saw Western Australia continue its fight back after their early round two loss with a dominating performance over Tasmania winning 7 - 4. This makes the round six match with Queensland very interesting now. A 7 - 4 victory over South Australia to Queensland saw them remain Championship favourites and could have ended any chance South Australia had at the title. Victoria defeated New South Wales 8 - 3 for their third victory, leaving them still a chance. First up tomorrow they play Queensland. Australian Capital territory won their first round for the day with a good victory 8 - 3 over the Northern Territory.

At this stage only Queensland remains the only undefeated team. Victoria's clash with Queensland in round five, the clash between Western Australia and Queensland in round six, should be rippers and will decide the Championship winner if Queensland wins both. If Western Australia or Victoria wins against Queensland it will open up the event to give Western Australia and Victoria another chance at winning the title.

Competition continues tomorrow at the Redlands Multi Sports Complex starting at 10.30am with the next three rounds of the Teams Competition

Today's Results:
LADIES
Round One: TAS 6 - VIC 5, SA 11 - ACT 0, QLD 10 - NT 1, WA 7 - NSW 4
Round Two: QLD 8 - TAS 3, VIC 6 - WA 5, SA 9 - NT 2, NSW 6 - ACT 5
Round Three: TAS 7 - SA 4, VIC 10 - ACT 1, WA 10 - NT 1, QLD 8 - NSW 3
Round Four: ACT 8 - NT 3, VIC 8 - NSW 3, QLD 7 - SA 4, WA 7 - TAS 4

MEN
Round One: VIC 9 - TAS 2, ACT 6 - SA 5, QLD 7 - NT 4, WA 9 - NSW 2
Round Two: QLD 9 - TAS 2, WA 7 - VIC 4, SA 9 - NT 2, NSW 7 - ACT 4
Round Three: SA 11 - TAS 0, VIC 7 - ACT 4, WA 9 - NT 2, QLD 6 - NSW 5
Round Four: ACT 6 - NT 5, NSW 7 - VIC 4, QLD 6 - SA 5, WA 10 - TAS 1