NSW strikes early at the Australian Junior Darts Championships

New South Wales players made both the Girls and Boy's Finals on day one of the Australian Junior Darts Championships and were successful in both of the finals.

Australian Junior Boys Doubles

The round robin competition is split into two pools, which resulted in some very close competition in the boy's event. Pool 'A' saw a very close competition with Queensland's players Nathan Paice and Mitchell Browning winning all of their matches (5 wins 10 legs) to move straight into the finals. Joining them in the finals from this Pool was Victorians Stewart Coburn and Travis Richards (3 wins 7 legs). They lost matches to the Queensland pair and Tasmanians Sean Methven and Liam Philpott. That was not enough to qualify for the semi finals automatically though. They had to win a tiebreaker from two other pair's combinations from South Australia (Matthew Lukat and Bradley Evans) and the Tasmanian pair. Pool 'B' was a little more open with all pairings losing at least one match. At the end off the round robin New South Wales pair Mitchell Clegg and Guy Holland finished with four wins (4 wins 9 legs), the same amount of wins as the Queensland pair of Harlee Chauntler and Robert Braid. This also meant that these two pairs would need to play a tiebreaker to see who would claim the number one placing. Clegg and Holland were successful this time, but in the qualifying rounds the Queenslanders were successful when they met. The Queenslanders lost their only pool game to Western Australia's Gavin Dann and Jamie Miles who finished off in third place.

With the completion of the preliminary rounds the semi finals in the Australian Junior Boy's Doubles were:
Nathan Paice & Mitchell Browning (QLD) v Harlee Chauntler & Robert Braid (QLD)
Mitchell Clegg & Guy Holland (NSW) v Stewart Coburn & Travis Richards (VIC)

The first semi final saw a contest between the two Queensland pairings. The difference between the two pairings was the cleaner finishing by Nathan Paice. The Queensland pair of Chauntler and Braid missed an opportunity to stay in this contest in the fourth leg after they had darts at the double. The first three legs had gone with the darts and say cleaning finish to legs of darts on both sides. With both Chauntler and Braid missed darts at the double in the fourth leg, this gave the opportunity to Paice to claim a place in the final. As with the two other pegouts he hit in the first and third legs, the first dart at the double hit its mark and the Paice and Browning (right) combination were into the final. The score being 3 - 1 in a very close match.

The second semi saw a one sided result but the match was a lot closer than what the score line indicated. Mitchell Clegg and Guy Holland won through 3 - 0 over Stewart Coburn and Travis Richards from Victoria. The opening leg went with the darts to the pairing of Clegg and Holland. The second leg saw Holland play a brilliant leg hitting three bid scores and the winning double to inflict a break on the Victorian pair. All that was required from here on was for the New South Wales pair to hold their game together and with the darts, win the third leg to advance to the final. This is what they did with both players scoring brilliantly with Holland again finishing to give them the third leg.

Boys Doubles Semi Final Averages
1st Semi Final
Nathan Paice 21.661 & Mitchell Browning 22.961 (QLD)
Harlee Chauntler 20.654 & Robert Braid 19.34 (QLD)

2nd Semi Final
Mitchell Clegg 23.143 & Guy Holland 21.307 (NSW)
Stewart Coburn 19.738 & Travis Richards 17.949 (VIC)

The top pairing from each Pool moved into the final for a shot at the title. The Final was shaping up to be a cracker with all players throwing great averages in the semi finals. Unfortunately for the Queensland pair they came up against a pair in pretty consistent form. New South Wales players Clegg and Holland (left) performed a great display of accurate darts. The first leg saw the New South Wales pair finish in 24 darts with Mitchell finish from 60 with two darts. The second leg saw his partner finish from 5 with two darts for a 29-darter and an important break against the Queenslanders. The third leg saw the pressure rise on all players. The darts were accurate but the big scores went missing a little. Paice in particular was throwing great darts and after being set up by his partner, he was able to finish from 12 after the New South Wales missed a chance at the double to immediately inflict a break back. With an opportunity for the title lost, Clegg and Holland responded and again put in the big scores. Paice and Browning matched them early in the fourth leg but Clegg and Holland were a little more consistent. Holland left Clegg tops for the title, which he hit with his second dart to give the New South Wales the title winning 3 - 1. This was Clegg's second Australian Youth Pairs title previously winning in Alice Springs in 2006.

Boys Doubles Final Averages
Mitchell Clegg (NSW) 21.656
Guy Holland (NSW) 20.306
Nathan Paice (QLD) 23.017
Mitchell Browning (QLD) 17.148

Australian Junior Girls Doubles

The Girl's were not to be out down by the Boy's. Their competition was just as close. In Pool "A" a tie breaker was required to determine the winner of the pool. At the completion of the round robin Queensland's Brie Peters and Rebecca Webster and New South Wales Kayla Holland and Melissa Sica finished up with four wins each. To see who would finish top of the Pool a tiebreaker was played which saw the New South Wales pair win therefore topping pool "A". This Pool was very tight with two pairs finishing in equal third with three wins seven legs - Tasmania's Kelsey Jordon and Chloe Hoskinson and South Australia's Bianca Kocjancic and Sharni Evans.

Nicole Collins and Lauren Seabourne from Tasmania finished in top place in Pool "B" after losing just one round to the New South Wales pairing of Emily Austin and Melissa Murray. A tiebreaker was required to find second place after the New South Wales pair, Western Australians Tarmeka Nestor and Krissy Smith and Queensland's Kayla Kennedy and Chelsea Owens finished the round robin with three wins each. Austin and Murray came through to advance to the semi finals. In this pool every pairing won at least one round.

With the completion of the preliminary rounds the semi finals for the Australian Junior Girl's Doubles were:
Kayla Holland & Melissa Sica (NSW) v Emily Austin & Melissa Murray (NSW)
Nicole Collins & Lauren Seabourne (TAS) v Brie Peters & Rebecca Webster (QLD)

The first semi final saw the two New South Wales Pairings playing off against each other. Legs went with darts for the first three legs. An opportunity opened up for Kayla Holland and Melissa Sica in the fourth leg when their bigger scoring gave them first shot at the double. Holland did not let this opportunity slip by and with three darts finished from 63 to make a place in the final theirs.

The second semi final saw some experience junior players shape up against each other - Brie Peters (fifth year) Lauren Seabourne (third year) Nicole Collins (second year). The big crowd in attendance expected a close match up on stage. It was not to be though. The pairing of Peters and Webster (left) was too consistent with their scoring and managed to win three straight legs to make the final. They won the first leg against the darts, won the second leg comfortably and were given a chance in the third leg after Collins and Seabourne wasted ten darts at the double to keep their chances alive. Peters had a shot at finishing from 38 to win a place in the final. She pegged with three darts to claim her third double in the semi final.

Girls Doubles Semi Final Averages
1st Semi Final
Kayla Holland 19.165 & Melissa Sica 17.642 (NSW)
Emily Austin 14.812 & Melissa Murray 21.28 (NSW)

2nd Semi Final
Nicole Collins 13.482 & Lauren Seabourne 19.76 (TAS)
Brie Peters 16.069 & Rebecca Webster 17.078 (QLD)

The Grand Final was played by some nervous Girl's up on stage in front of a large crowd. It was the last match of the day and both pairings had come out of pool "A". Holland and Sica were away first and they won the first leg when Sica finished from 39 with her second dart. The second leg Holland finished from 40 with her first dart to take a 2 - 0 lead in legs after Peters missed a chance at evening up the final. Leg three saw Peters and Webster lift their scoring and they powered ahead towards the double. They could not find that leg winner giving the Holland and Sica pairing every opportunity to win the final. Lucky for them they had enough time hitting the double after a number of wasted darts. Peters bought the scoreline back to 2 - 1 after final hitting double 10. The fourth leg saw Holland and Sica (right) take the advantage in getting to the double quicker due to some big scores including a 180 being hit by Sica. Sica had a shot at the title but missed. Peters and Webster were still a hundred back. Holland stepped up and confidently hit 20 with her third dart to win the title. Congratulations to Kayla Holland and Melissa Sica on being crowned 2008 Australian Junior Girls Doubles Champions. (Unlucky for Brie Peters who just missed on winning her forth Australian Girls Pairs title)

Girls Doubles Finals Averages
Kayla Holland (NSW) 19.284
Melissa Sica (NSW) 17.097
Brie Peters (QLD) 16.027
Rebecca Webster (QLD) 18.59