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NSW and Queensland strikes early at the Australian Junior Darts Championships

Queensland has dominated day one of the Australian Junior Darts Championships. Following the Official photographs being taken, the first event for the week the Girls and Boy's Australian Doubles were contested. They had both finalists in the Girl's Doubles and a finalist in the Boy's Doubles.

Australian Junior Boys Doubles

The round robin competition was split into two pools, which saw very close competition in the boy's event. Pool 'A' saw a very close competition with no pairing coming through without dropping at least one game. Queensland's Thomas Fitzgerald and Tom Pourau topped the Pool with 5 wins and 11 legs losing their only game to WA's Robert Carpanoni and Brendan Phillips. Three pairings, New South Wales Mitchell Clegg and Kyle Munro, Western Australia's WA's Robert Carpanoni and Brendan Phillips and Victoria's Michael Cassar and Travis Richards all finishing with four wins. To separate these three pairings tie breakers was required with the three pairings playing one leg of 1001. The first pair to hit the correct double would move into the semi finals. New south Wales Clegg and Munro were there first to hit the double.

Pool 'B' was a little more open but still very close. As in Pool 'A' no pairing was able to win all of their games. Topping the Pool though with last year's finalists from Tasmania Rhys Mathewson and Dwayne Seabourne winning 5 games and 11 legs. Their only lose was to NSW's Anthony Hancock and Cameron Greenham 2 - 1. Second in this Pool went to Queenslands Adam Hawkshaw and William Ramsbotham. They lost to the Tasmania pair and to South Australia's Luke Warren and Daniel Lill (both games 2 - 1).

The first semi final saw the two Queensland pairings play against each other. Thomas Fitzgerald and Tom Pourau were away first and they claimed the leg with a great 116 finish by Pourau. They also claimed leg two with Pourau again finishing cleanly with a 52 finish with two darts. Adam Hawkshaw and William Ramsbotham broke back with a great leg of darts with Hawkshaw taking the leg finishing on double 8 after hitting a score of 177 the previous shot. Fitzgerald and Pourau won the fourth leg to win the game and move into the final.

The second semi final saw NSW's Mitchell Clegg and Kyle Munro move into the final after a great match against Dwayne Seabourne and Rhys Mathewson with the score being 3 - 2. Clegg and Munro started the game and won the first leg in 27 darts. They broke the Tasmanian's in the second leg to be one leg from the final. Last years finalists were not going to go away easily and fought back claiming the next two legs to tie up the semi at 2 - 2. Both pairs were feeling the pressure in the final leg but the NSW pair started stronger. Mitchell Clegg with a 76 finish claimed the leg and moved into the final.

The two pairings from Pool 'A' had moved into the final for another shot at each other. Earlier in the day the Queenslander's of Thomas Fitzgerald and Tom Pourau had defeated Mitchell Clegg and Kyle Munro 2 - 1. The NSW boy's were out for revenge and that revenge was sweet and swift. They dominated the final taking the game in three straight legs with Munro hitting all three doubles (92, 18 and 8) and both players hitting maximum scores of 180. The highlight of this final was the high consistent scoring by all players, but the standout was Mitchell Clegg who finished with an average of 27.153. This was Mitchell Clegg and Kyle Munro's first Australia title - 2006 Australian Junior Boy's Doubles Champions.

Boys Doubles Final Averages
Mitchell Clegg (NSW) 27.153
Kyle Munro (NSW) 16.390
Thomas Fitzgerald (Qld) 20.769
Tom Pourau (Qld) 20.727

Australian Junior Girls Doubles

The Girl's were not to be out down by the Boy's. Their competition was just as close. Brie Peters and Raylee Parsons from Queensland finished in top place in Pool "A" after defeating all opposition. They completed the round robin with 6 wins and 12 legs. New South Wales Kylie Walker and Hannah Williams with 5 wins and 11 legs were the other semi finalists.

In Pool 'B' Queensland's Chelsea Owens and Kayla Kennedy came through the round robin with a record of 5 wins and 10 legs losing one game to Victoria's Nikki King and Jessie Breneizeris. Joining them in the semi finals was the New South Wales pairing of Amy Clegg and Kayla Holland whose two loses were to the Qld Girl's 2- 1 and Tasmania's Jacki Upton and Lauren Seabourne 2 - 0 giving them a total of 4 wins and 9 legs.

The first semi final saw a very close contest with New South Wales Clegg and Holland take on Queensland's Peters and Parsons who were finalist in 2004. Peters and Parsons started the game and won the open leg. They also won the second leg breaking the NSW Pair. NSW came back to break back when Amy Clegg finish on 100 to bring the score to 2 - 1 Qld. The NSW Pair had to win the fourth leg and was away first but Peters and Parsons were too strong winning the leg and advancing to the final.

Their opposition would come from Pool 'B' and another Queensland pair of Chelsea Owens and Kayla Kennedy. They were in pretty hot shape winning 3 - 2 with Owens in great finishing form hitting the three pegouts to win the legs. This match was so close that the lead of pair won the leg.

The Grand Final was a battle between the Queensland pairings. The final started with Brie Peters and Raylee Parsons winning two of the first three legs. They broke in the first leg, lost the second after leading off and missing doubles, but managed another break in the third. Chelsea Owens and Kayla Kennedy had to win the fourth leg to stay in the final. This was not the case with the more experienced pairing of Peters and Parsons too strong taking the fourth leg and a 3 - 1 victory. Owens and Kennedy are rookies at these Championships where as Peters and Parsons has several years playing these Championships behind them. Congratulations to with Brie Peters and Raylee Parsons on being crowned 2006 Australian Junior Girls Doubles Champions.

Girls Doubles Finals Averages
Brie peters (Qld) 15.089
Raylee Parsons (Qld) 16.118
Chelsea Owens (Qld) 16.871
Kayla Kennedy (Qld) 11.573

Tomorrow sees the first four rounds of the Australian Teams Championships.