quarter-finals. This is Graham’s first time on stage but we showed we
had bottle and pushed through.”
Brendan Dolan also continued to impress as Northern Ireland secured
a 2-0 victory over Japan in a one-sided affair that didn’t do justice to
an excellent Japanese pairing, both of whom have considerable stage
experience.
Quarter Finals
Michael van Gerwen cruised into a 2-0 lead in the Netherlands opening
singles match with belgium, only for his opponent to take four legs on
the spin to put the Belgians 1-0 up.
Photo: PDC/Lawrence Lustig
Barney fought back for the Dutch taking his singles match against Ronny
Huybrechts and the duo had soon wrapped up victory in the pairs as
they marched on in the competition.
“Kim hit some fantastic shots against me and deserved to win but it’s
about winning the whole game and we didn’t do anything wrong in the
Doubles game,” admitted van Gerwen.
“There’s a lot of pressure on us and we want to keep this going now into
the semi-finals. Northern Ireland played really well to beat Scotland
and it will be tough for us.”
Brendan Dolan put in an impressive performance to win the opening
singles 4-2 against Peter Wright as Northern Ireland took on Scotland
with both nations looking to reach the semi-finals for the first time.
Robert Thornton levelled for the Scots with a deciding leg victory
over Michael Mansell, but the Irish pair had been in supreme form all
weekend and they stormed to a 4-1 doubles win to head to the semifinals for the first time.
“We’re very proud to have got into the semi-finals against two brilliant
opponents,” said Dolan. “We believed in ourselves
and did a good job.
“I was feeling good because
Michael had made Robert
Thornton pull out the
game of his life in the
Singles and that lifted
me going into the
Doubles.
“We’re very proud
to have got into
the semi-finals
against two brilliant
opponents”
Brendan Dolan
Photos: PDC/Lawrence Lustig