Teams Events Split

A titanic struggle between Queensland and New South Wales occurred at the 27th Puma Australian Junior Darts Championships at Gloucester Park in Perth today. In both the Girl's and Boy's Teams events New South Wales and Queensland entered the last round where they were to met undefeated creating a very exciting and pressurised round of competition. The end result saw each state picking up one title each.

Competition in the Teams Event started Tuesday when three round were completed. The remaining two rounds were completed today.

Teams to NSW girls.

New South Wales are the new Australian Junior Girls Darts Teams Champions with a dominant performance from them. They took on every State and managed to defeat all of them. And they did it by coming through some really tight battles early with close victories over Tasmania and Victoria 5 - 4. The final contest of the day against Queensland was a real nail bighter with the match going down to the final leg of darts. Both teams had their chance with darts at the double with New South Wales eventually mailing the winning pegout.

Captain Janelle Wilson was in charge of this team with Manager Teresa Hore and the players did her proud. They were Emily Austin, Amy Clegg, Kayla Holland, Melissa Sica and Melissa Murray. "What an outstanding result from the New South Wales Junior Girls with two rookies in the side. All five girls pulled together and played as a team. It just shows what can be achieved when you have the encouragement and support behind them. Well done Girls you have done the state proud. "GO the BLUES" said Janelle Wilson

Second place went to the Queensland. They lost just the one game to New South Wales with their other round matches appearing to be relatively comfortable. The experiences gained from previous year again saw this team benefit again this year. Brie Peters has been in the team for six years while this was the third year for Chelsea Owens and Kayla Kennedy. New player Rebecca Webster was a formidable replacement for Raylee Parsons who was too old to play this year. Although they won the title last year, all these players were able to perform again this year on the boards and that winning experience was there for them to benefit from but unfortunately they came up a fraction short this year. Captain Leonie Campbell said after the final match, "This year the Queensland Girls have played really well together. Brie Peters and Rebecca Webster (Rookie) got us up and going early with a final place in the Girl's Doubles on Monday and the team went through undefeated in the fours.

They were unlucky not to win the teams championship. It came down to the team's game in the final round robin match. Unfortunately we, as did New South Wales wired or busted several times and New South Wales eventually got it.
The Team has played well together and want to continue on and do well in the remainder of the tournament."

South Australia placed third with three wins and two loses to New South Wales and Queensland 6 - 3. Fourth place went to Tasmania (2 wins), fifth to Western Australia (1 wins), and sixth to Victoria (0 wins).

Girls Results: (Round by Round)
New South Wales: (TAS 5 - 4) (SA 6 - 3) (VIC 5 - 4) (WA 9 - 0) (QLD 5 - 4)
Queensland: (WA 8 - 1) (TAS 6 - 3) (SA 6 - 3) (VIC 8 - 1) (NSW 4 - 5)
South Australia: (VIC 8 - 1) (NSW 3 - 6) (QLD 3 - 6) (TAS 6 - 3) (WA 5 - 4)
Tasmania: (NSW 4 - 5) (QLD 3 - 6) (WA 6 - 3) (SA 3 - 6) (VIC 8 - 1)
Victoria: (SA 1 - 8) (WA 3 - 6) (NSW 4 - 5) (QLD 1 - 8) (TAS 1 - 8)
Western Australia: (QLD 1 - 8) (VIC 6 - 3) (TAS 3 - 6) (NSW 0 - 9) (SA 4 - 5)

Queensland back-to-back wins

The Queensland Boy's clinched the Australian Junior Boy's Teams Event with two Rookie darts players in their team. Last year they won the title back after missing chances at the title in previous years but the Queensland teams have always been very competitive. Last year they were ecstatic with their performance winning with four rookie players, but the team this year really performed well again to take the title back to Queensland. Nathan Paice and Harlee Chauntler were the only two survivors in this year's team from the 2007 successful campaign.

The Boy's Team Championship is a hotly contested event with all teams virtually capable of winning any match. This year's competition came down to the last round of matches. Both New South Wales and Queensland were undefeated and were to play each other in the last round. On paper these two teams could not have been any closer with both teams accumulating 4 wins and 28 legs through the previous four rounds. It was a ripper contest with the pressure being on the players to the very end to win their games. This final round match saw both teams playing brilliant pairs early with both teams winning two games each. Queensland were a touch stronger in the singles and this was all that was needed for them to win the title as they won three of the four singles played. The title was heading back to Queensland again.

Queensland Captain Greg Rideout said, "Well what an exciting two days of the teams championship. All sides prove to have good potential despite some of the results.
Round 1 for Queensland went in our favour with a massive 9 - 0 win. Queensland were lucky in some legs but managed to break through each time. Both Nathan and Harlee threw 180's.
Round 2 saw us defeat Tasmania 7 - 2. Another good win with another 180 for Harlee and a 155 pegout for Nathan.
Round 3 was another good win against South Australia. South Australia has good quality juniors and was unlucky. The result could have easily gone the other way.
Round 4 was a hard match. Leg for leg the whole way right down to the team's game. Queensland were determined to win knowing New South Wales were next and they had not lost a round. The boy's pulled it together for a 5 - 4 win against Victoria. What a match!
Round 5 was the last and was going to be our toughest. NSW and Queensland hadn't lost a match so both states were keen to take victory. We were two all after the doubles with both sides having good games. Nathan Paice and Mitchell Clegg went neck-to-neck with Nathan breaking through for a 2 - 0 win. This gave us a 4 - 2 lead. One more game was needed for a great last match win. Mitchell Browning went down to Shane Wilson, who played terrific darts to take us to a 4 - 3 lead. Robert Braid and Guy Holland battled it out it out neck to neck until Robert whacked double 5. Game over Queensland. The boy's won the match 6 - 3 after winning the teams leg.
What a performance, not only for Queensland but also from all states. This year the boy's were close and Queensland did well to back up their winning history in this great sport. Well done Queensland."

The players representing Queensland were Nathan Paice, Harlee Chauntler, Mitchell Browning and Robert Braid. Their Manager is Chris Thomas.

Norm Walker captained the second placed New South Wales Team and the players consisted of Mitchell Clegg, Guy Holland, James Gregory, Luke Sipple, Shane Wilson and Kevin Holland Manager. "They played with a great deal of skill which they have been working towards for the last year. They just fell short to Queensland in the last round after winning all the other rounds. All my players should be very proud of their efforts, as it was a great thing to be a part of. We used all five boys', which did not weaken the team at any stage. On behalf of the New South Wales Team Management, well done boy's." said Norm Walker.

Victoria were the big improvers in 2008 moving up to finish in third place with three wins losing only to Queensland and New South Wales. The remaining three teams all finished with one win each highlighting how close the competition is. There are no certainties wins here. Officially South Australia finished up taking fourth place, Tasmania fifth and Western Australia sixth.

Boys Results: (Round by Round)
New South Wales: (TAS 8 - 1) (SA 5 - 4) (VIC 8 - 1) (WA 7 - 2) (QLD 3 - 6)
Queensland: (WA 9 - 0) (TAS 7 - 2) (SA 7 - 2) (VIC 5 - 4) (NSW 6 - 3)
South Australia: (VIC 4 - 5) (NSW 4 - 5) (QLD 2 - 7) (TAS 6 - 3) (WA 4 - 5)
Tasmania: (NSW 1 - 8) (QLD 2 - 7) (WA 6 - 3) (SA 3 - 6) (VIC 3 - 6)
Victoria: (SA 5 - 4) (WA 7 - 2) (NSW 1 - 8) (QLD 4 - 5) (TAS 6 - 3)
Western Australia: (QLD 0 - 9) (VIC 2 - 7) (TAS 3 - 6) (NSW 2 - 7) (SA 5 - 4)