World final heartbreak for Rafferty

COALISLAND thrower Nathan Rafferty suffered heartbreak in the final of the Unicorn World Youth Darts Championship in Minehead on Sunday of last week.

The decider between the talented Tyrone man and 24-year-old Englishman, Ted Evetts, was broadcast live on ITV4 between the semi-final and final of the Ladbrokes Players Championship, which was won by Peter Wright.

Initially, the final appeared to be going to plan for Rafferty who, after losing the first leg, won the next three on the bounce to engineer a 3-1 lead.

Unfortunately, Evetts was determined not to be left in the Tyrone man’s wake and he won two in a row to draw level before adding another two to surge into a lead.

But back came Rafferty with a 100 checkout to make it 5-4 and it looked like the final could go all the way.

That wasn’t to be, however, and in the penultimate leg of the thrilling encounter, Evetts cleaned up 37 in two darts to end his youth career on a high.

“I’m over the moon, I would’ve swapped all my youth titles for this one,” said Evetts, the most successful player in Development Tour history.

“If you’d have spoken to 16-year-old me who couldn’t make it past the last 16, I wouldn’t have believed I’d be standing here with this trophy.

“I don’t think I’ve shown anywhere close to what I can do in the senior ranks so far. There’s a lot more to come from me.
“Hopefully I can use this as a springboard for future success on the big stage.”

Evetts, who had already secured qualification for the 2021/22 World Championship via the ProTour Order of Merit, also receives the £10,000 winners’ prize, while Rafferty earned £5,000 for his efforts.

Earlier in the day, Evetts and Rafferty came through a 32-player tournament, played in group and knockout stages in Reds.

Rafferty was in group B alongside Adam Gawlas, Reece Colley and Joshua Richardson. He defeated the former 4-0 and Colley 4-3 either side of a 4-2 reverse to Gawlas to qualify for the knockout stages of the tournament.

In the last-16 he was paired with Jack Male, who he brushed aside on a 5-0 scoreline to set up a rematch with Gawlas in the last eight. Rafferty was able to exact revenge for that defeat in the group stages by winning 5-4 to make progress to the semi-finals.

In the last four, the 21-year-old defeated Geert Nentjes 5-3, whole Evetts brushed aside Kevin Doets 5-1 before the pair locked horns in the decider with Evetts ultimately prevailing.