One of the great happenings at this event each year is Kids Day. All of the players make themselves available to mix with the children that come along for some fun.

Wednesday afternoons sees the children off from school and this unique opportunity for kids between the ages of six and twelve is organized so they can meet the stars of world darts.

Clown Freubel showed about 100 kids some tricks and he introduced Master of Ceremonies Martin Fitzmaurice to introduce all the players as the come down the stairs over the catwalk. Surprisingly, the kids recognised many players and not surprisingly Andy Fordham 2004 World Champion (Above - pictured signing autographs) was the most popular of them all.

The youngsters were offered a drink, some sweets and they had the opportunity to met the players to get the treasured autographs they wanted. (Left –kids checking out the stage)

When the all came down stairs and over the catwalk onto the stage, many happy faces were seen. One of the children actually played Co Stompé on the stage.

Not only did the kids amused themselves, the players also had a lot of fun with them as well. Have a look at the photos for an impression.

Tony David hanging in there.

After losing last night’s match to Jarkko Komula Tony David needed to make it into the winner’s circle Wednesday evening if he was going to progress further in 2004 Tempus International Darts League.

His opponent in this round was the new Netherlands star in Andre Brantjes (Pictured right). A qualifier for this event coming into prominence in the early rounds with a 6 – 5 win over Martin Adams who has been in pretty good form so far in this tournament.

Unfortunately for Brantjes he came across Tony David who is on the verge of bigger things in this tournament if he makes it through this part of the tournament. David plays better the longer matches go, and with the quarterfinals being the best of 13 sets he will enjoy the challenge.

This evening though he was too strong for Brantjes defeating him comfortably
7 – 4. David averaged 29.50 for the match with Brantjes down a little on recent form averaging 27.79.

David's next game is against Ted “The Count” Hankey on Thursday evening and he will need to be on his best game to win this match.

Other results saw Mervyn King in a shock defeat by Vincent van der Voort and Darryl Fitton and Robert Wagner involved in a real cliffhanger.

Day 4: Tuesday May 11th, a start was made with the second group phase.

Again a round-robin system whereby 2 players of each of the 4 groups will qualify for the quarterfinals on Friday. The order of the matches was re-arranged for the SBS6 live broadcasting of the matches in the Netherlands. Now the matches go over a distance of maximum 13 legs.

Group J:
The first match was between the two British players. Tony O’Shea, the 5th seed had won all his previous matches and now confronted an inform opponent. James Wade, (pictured right) since his first round Lakeside encounter with Shaun Greatbatch is more mature in his matches on stage nowadays. He managed to break O’Shea for the first time in the third leg. That break he kept until the end and he won the match 7-5.

Also in that group another match between two British players: Martin Atkins and Tony West. A strange match, which was highlighted by the many breaks. In the 7th leg it was Martin Atkins who first managed to win a leg that he started. After that he again broke his opponent and looked on his way to win the match. West with a 144 finish narrowed the gap and even leveled the match at 6-all, after winning another leg. West, the more experienced player of the two won the match by winning the deciding leg.

”The Count” (pictured left) needed 59 darts for the next 4 legs and took the lead 5-2. The gap remained at 3 legs and with a marvelous 121 finish Hankey ended the match. Still two matches to go for Brantjes to reach the quarterfinals. Everyday Brantjes and his wife enjoy the atmosphere and the attention they are receiving from everyone.

The other match in this group was the one between Australian’s Tony David and the Finish player Jarkko Komula. The Fin who performs more consistently in the big tournaments against former Embassy champion David. It was a close one. Jarkko took a 2-leg lead but saw it disappear as David won 3 legs in a row. Two missed darts on his favourable double tops were fatal for the Australian. The Fin won the match with 7-5.

Group J:
The group in which Raymond van Barneveld plays. First the encounter between the title defender van Barneveld and the character Darryl “The Dazzler” Fitton. (Left – Fitton entering for match against Barneveld)

Everyone had looked out for this match. Fitton had impressed everyone with his performance against Dave Richardson with his 6-0 victory and a staggering 38.05 average.

Darryl missed double 16 in the opening leg and van Barneveld was straight on top of it by stealing the leg. For the socond leg Barney hit the double only on his eight attempt and despite the lead, it showed he had problems on the double. The three times Embassy winner took a comfortable 4-0 lead with finishes of 120 and 164 and the match seemed to end earlier than expected. Fitton however recovered and won the next two legs with also a 100+ finish.

Barneveld (pictured right) re-established the 4 leg lead and only needed one more for the victory. A missed double 8 from 96 for the match by Raymond and Fitton on his 5th try took the leg. Than a 130 finish from the Stockport England living Fitton.

Again two missed match-darts from Raymond in leg 12 and again Fitton finished it.

With a handsome 14 darter after winning the bull-off van Barneveld eventually won the match.
So the first group victory was there for the defending champion against a highly respected opponent.

The other match was between Robert Wagner and Dave Routledge. Wagner showed all of his skills. It was the last match of the day, but certainly more than interesting to watch. Impressive averages for the winner Wagner (34.02) and a high double percentage (70%).

Vincent van der Voort against Martin Adams.(pictured left) A sharp Adams on the oche. Certainly at the start of a new group-phase one can play freely. There is less pressure than at the later stages.

The first three legs went with the darts. The first break was for Adams. In 15 darts with a 106-finish the Englishman took the lead. Van der Voort had missed a dart on tops from 80. The Zaandammer had another chance to level the match, but with a 14 darter “Wolfie” prevented it.