Mixed Pairs Darts title thrown to NSW
Players were competing for the Australian Junior Mixed Doubles Championship at today’s action packed 25th Puma Australian Junior Darts Championships at the Living Waters Primary School in Alice Springs resulting in new Champions.
 Fresh after his great singles title he won yesterday, Mitchell Clegg was looking for a place in another final when he partnered Kylie Walker (pictured right). The NSW pair had played great darts all day hardly dropping a leg through the earlier qualifying rounds of darts. They played another pair from Queensland who had pretty good success in doubles competition earlier in the week. The NSW pairing were away first and Tom Pourau and Kylee Parsons were soon in trouble. The scoring power of the NSW pair was too much for the Queenslander’s to match. Clegg hit a 180 maximum giving them a big lead in the leg. With 47 to finish, Clegg cleaned up to take the first leg. Leg two and the scoring power of Clegg was again a dominating factor. Clegg was not doing every thing though as Walker finished this leg from 20 with two darts. Pourau & Parsons had to win the third leg to stay in the hunt and had to win the third leg against the darts. They started with only average scores while Walker and Clegg were well on their way hitting some big scores. Walker set up Clegg to win the leg and semi final when she hit a 100 to leave Clegg 48 to finish. He missed but Walker was confidant and easily finished off the leg from 40 to advance to the final.
 The second semi final saw Queensland’s Adam Hawkshaw & Chelsea Owens take on the Tasmanian pairing of Dwayne Seabourne & Tameka Enniss. This was a great contest although the final score line did not indicate that. The highlight of this final was the great finishing by Adam Hawkshaw. The Queenslanders were away first but were out scored by the Tassie pairing. As they saw doubles win matches and this leg saw Seabourne & Enniss miss their first chance. They wasted nine darts at the double giving Hawkshaw a chance at finishing from 51. He was successful and won the first leg. Leg two and a similar result. Again the Tassie pair had their chance and failed to capitalize. Again Hawkshaw had an opportunity to closing out the leg and he did finishing from 61 out.  Leg three saw Seabourne matching Hawkshaw (pictured right) scoring wise, as were Enniss and Owens (pictured left). This saw the Queensland ‘rookies’ have the first shot at finishing as they started the leg. They were not going to let an opportunity at a final placing slip. Hawkshaw for three legs in a row, cleanly finished off by hitting the double to win the semi final 3 – 0.
The Master of Ceremonies Doug Schnitzer called the players to the Finals Board and all were expecting a close match. A pair of ‘Rookies” up against a pair of seasoned campaigners at this level of darts. Both Pairs appeared to be a little nervous, they were throwing straight darts but the big scored were missing. Clegg & Walker claimed the first leg against the darts with Walker finishing from 60 with two darts. Leg two was the exact reversal of leg one. This time it was Owens who finished from 38 to square up the final at 1 – 1. All of a sudden all players fired up and it was ‘game on’. The third leg was brilliant by all players. Clegg threw 100, 180 and 100, Hawkshaw his opponent threw 140, 100 and 100.  The girls were also matching each other with some great scoring also. Clegg and Walker missed a chance here when Clegg missed two darts at double 20. Hawkshaw had just missed from 84 on their previous shot, but Owens was up to the task and finished off the leg from 12 with two darts. Clegg and Walker kept up hitting the big scores while Hawkshaw and Owens dropped off just a little. This gave Clegg and Walker a little breathing room and they needed it. They missed the double 8 and then left double 1 to win the leg. Clegg hit it with one dart to square up the final. The deciding leg of darts for the title saw the NSW pair away first. Clegg was still hitting the big scores and Walker was keeping her scoring steady. The Queenslander’s were starting to feel the pressure and their game dropped away and could not find the big scores. Walker and Clegg (pictured above) won their first Australian Mixed Pairs title when Clegg stepped up to the oche and finished the final off with a great 104 finish.
Both combinations were evenly matched in the final with averages being for all players: Mitchell Clegg (23.50) & Kylie Walker (16.161), Adam Hawkshaw (21.75) & Chelsea Owens (14.478).
Quarter Final results:
Tom Pourau & Raylee Parsons (QLD) defeated Sean Methven & Lauren Seabourne (TAS) 3 – 2
Mitchell Clegg & Kylie Walker (NSW) defeated Thomas Fitzgerald & Brie Peters (QLD) 3 - 1
Dwayne Seabourbe & Tameka Enniss (TAS) defeated Nathan Shelley & Emily Wills (VIC) 3 – 1
Adam Hawkshaw & Chelsea Owens (QLD) defeated Robert Carpanoni & Kirsten Nunn (WA)
Crowds have been excellent. Competition continues tomorrow with the Girl and Boy’s Australian Youth Masters and Mystery Mixed Doubles for those not competing in the Youth Masters. Play starts at 9.00am tomorrow. |
