The climax of a full season of Junior Darts was staged in Gibraltar as the JDC World Cup and World Championship were played. It also saw the staging inaugural Luke Littler Legacy Trophy. Littler owes a lot of his success to the JDC and academy route into professional. His success has inspired many many young people to try their hand. Some want to be future pros and some just want to enjoy the game.
The Luke Littler Legacy Trophy was the first major title to be held, and there was no shortage of quality. The eventual winner was Ryan Branley, who beat fellow English star, Jack Nankervis in the final. Both have been flying on the JDC tour, and many within the JDC would not be have surprised to see these two make the finals. The final score was 6-5, with Branley hitting an average of 92.53. In fact he hit above 80 in every round. Nankervis wasn't far behind as he hit 83.14 in the final.
The World Junior Championship was the next event. No winner decided in Gibraltar, as this will be played at Alexandra Palace during the PDC World Championship. However the tournament was played down to the semi-finals, with the winner of each securing their place.
The young Belgian talent,Lex Paeshuyse booked his place beating the Mongolian sensation, Tergel Khurelkhuu in his semi final. Paeshuyse had also beaten both Branley and Nankervis in the earlier rounds, so had performed incredibly well to make it. Along with names mentioned above, he will be one for the future for sure. The second player to qualify was the English player Daniel Stephenson. Stephenson had to beat the number one ranked JDC player, Archie Self in the quarter final, so his route was tough too. This all leads to an exciting final on the Alexandra Palace stage, where both players will be hoping to follow in the successful footsteps of previous winners such as Jurjen van de Velde, Keane Barry and, of course, Luke Littler.
The final big event in Gibraltar was the World Cup. Teams of four would play, firstly in a group stage, and then onto a straight knockout. 20 countries were represented, and around half of these had second string 'B' teams.
The strength of some of these nations give an indication of what's to come over the next few years, and it's great to see new countries emerge with young talent. Mongolia, in particular, stand out. Not a country you would consider when it come to darts, but are a nation getting stronger each year. Also good to see Italy, Canada and Gibraltar perform well. This will hopefully make darts even more global than it currently is.
The final saw England 'A' overcome Netherlands 'B', in the final. Perhaps not too surprising, as the Junior game in these countries has had most investment and structure in recent years. However England had a tough match to overcome Mongolia 4-2 in the semi final and Netherlands beat Ireland in their last four game. So more and more countries are emerging and may darts may not always be UK/Dutch stronghold.
The English team was a very capable group and included JDC number one, Archie Self, Ryan Branley, who has also appeared on the PDC Development Tour and Modus Super Series, Jack Nankervis, who I've mentioned above and Kieran Thompson. I'm sure we will be seeing most of this group a lot more in the coming years too.
The JDC goes from strength to strength, and events like this can only make it grow. I look forward to see players come through this system and follow the legacy of Luke Littler.
