Tuesday 25th February saw the GDA’s 4th Ranking Tournament of the season take place with Nico Bado claiming his first ranking title of the season.

A statement from the GDA follows below:

On Tuesday 25th February the GDA’s 4th Ranking Tournament of the season  took place – the Joe Goldwin Singles. Joe Goldwin was instrumental in the  establishment of the GDA and a major figure in the sport for many years. He  formed part of the Gibraltar Team that participated in the first WDF World Cup  of Darts in 1977 held in London.  

29 Players registered for the Tournament in search of valuable ranking points  – these determine who will represent Gibraltar at the next World Cup in South  Korea.  

The first seeded player eliminated was N°7 seed David Francis who was  beaten by an on form Paul Penfold in a very close and fiercely contested  match 4-3. The rest of the seeded players comfortably saw off their opponents  booking their spot in the Quarter-Finals.  

Quarter-Finals  

Nº1 seed Justin Hewitt was able to fend off N°8 seed Justin Broton 4 - 2  Nº 2 seed Craig Galliano comfortably held off Paul Penfold who was unable to  continue his form on the previous match, 4 - 0  

Nº 3 seed Dyson Parody fell to N°6 seen Nico Bado who has has some  excellent recent results in the JDC Advanced Tour, 4 - 1  

Nº 4 seed Carlos Muñoz was unable to halt N°5 seed Ethan Pulham who has  also had great success recently at the JDC Development Tour, 4 - 2  

Semi-Finals  

Both Semi-Finals saw some great scoring and finishing. Justin Hewitt  defeated Ethan Pulham 5-1 in a close contest. Nico Bado was able to snatch  victory from Craig Galliano in a very closely contested match 5-4  

Final  

Justin won the bull throw to start the match but Nico’s slightly higher scoring  gave him the edge and he was able to win the 1st leg leaving Justin on 60.  

In the 2nd leg both players scored strongly but Justin levelled the game with a  D20 – Nico was left with 12 points on the scoreboard.  

The 3rd & 4th legs also saw some good scores from both players, Nico  claiming both to take the match to 3 – 1.  

The 4th saw a comeback from Justin who checked out leaving Nico on 40.  

From then on both players got some excellent scores but it was Nico who was  able to clinch the all important doubles to secure victory – Final Result 6 - 2 

Statistics;  

Event 3 Dart Average: 61.50  

6738 Darts Thrown  

Highest 3 Dart Average: Nico Bado 86.02  

High Finishes: Nico Bado 116, Juan Carlos Muñoz & Ethan Pulham 111,  Craig Galliano 110  

180’s: Nico Bado x 8, Justin Hewitt x 4, Ethan Pulham x 3, Justin Broton,  Jyzen Garcia, Juan Carlos Muñoz, Dyson Parody, Paul Penfold, Mark Walker,  Joseph Ward x 1  

The next GDA Ranked Tournament will be the Strongbow Singles sponsored  by Lewis Stagnetto Ltd on 18th March.