ARCHIE Self stormed to the top of the JDC Advanced Tour rankings after he and Kieran Thompson shared the spoils by winning an event apiece in Coventry.
England’s Self won the first event of the new Advanced Tour season last month – and he was back in the winner’s circle after beating Ireland’s Aidan O’Hara 6-5 in a pulsating Event 6 final, having trailed 5-2.
Self was excellent throughout the day, only exiting Event 5 when he ran into an in-form Thompson in the semi-final.
England’s Thompson went on to beat compatriot Jack Marshall 6-2 in the final to secure his first title of the 2024 Advanced Tour.
After another thrilling day of JDC action, the competitiveness of the Advanced Tour in the post-Luke Littler era is underlined by the rankings table. With six events played, Self leads the way on 17 points, with Daniel Stephenson and Jack Nankervis on 15, Ryan Branley and Thompson on 14, and Nico Bado on 13.
EVENT 5 SUMMARY
Kieran Thompson went into the day eighth in the rankings, having not made his way past the quarter-finals in the opening four events.
But the 16-year-old from Darwen in Lancashire – a mainstay on the Advanced Tour since its inception – more than made up for that in Event 5, winning in a variety of different ways throughout the event to secure his first title of the 2024 Advanced Tour.
After a 4-0 win against Taylor James Harding in his opener – in which Thompson hit a brilliant 141 checkout to clinch the match with a 15-darter – Thompson had to come through a seven-leg thriller against Jai Carlton in the last 16.
Thompson trailed 2-1, then led 3-2, before Carlton took out 78 to draw level and force a deciding leg. Thompson opened the decider with visits of 137, 180 and 96, going out in 14 darts to book his spot in the quarter-finals.
He produced his highest average of the event in the last eight, posting 92.49 to defeat Jack Nankervis 4-0. Thompson broke the Nankervis throw in 14 darts for a 2-0 lead, then took out 90 to hold before sealing the win when he hit 180 to leave 57 – which he cleared at the first time of asking.
Thompson had to show character in the semi-final, falling 4-2 behind in a race to five against Archie Self having led 2-0. Thompson opened with a 13-darter to break throw, then held to double his lead. But Self reeled off four legs on the bounce, with checkouts of 13, 16, 14 and 16, and looked destined to book his spot in the final as he had the darts in the next leg.
Thompson had other ideas, though, winning three on the spin. He opened the seventh leg with 97, 140, 100 and 139 to break Self’s throw, then held to make it 4-4.
With a place in the final on the line, Thompson again posted three ton-plus scores to break in 15 darts with his opponent sitting on 32.
Self must have been kicking himself. He was excellent throughout the event, posting back-to-back 92 averages to beat Thees Kogelinik and Jack Howarth without dropping a leg, before defeating Bado of Gibraltar 4-1.
Thompson dominated the final, racing into a 5-0 lead against Marshall, the highlight of those legs being a 112 checkout to break throw in 15 darts. Marshall hit back by winning two in a row but Thompson’s 72 checkout to break the Marshall throw saw him clinch the title.
Quarter-finals:
Jack Marshall (Eng) 4-2 Rhys Butler
Cayden Smith (Eng) 4-3 Aidan O’Hara (Ire)
Archie Self (Eng) 4-1 Nico Bado (Gib)
Kieran Thompson (Eng) 4-0 Jack Nankervis (Eng)
Semi-finals:
Jack Marshall (Eng) 5-2 Cayden Smith (Eng)
Kieran Thompson (Eng) 5-4 Archie Self (Eng)
Final:
Kieran Thompson (Eng) 6-2 Jack Marshall (Eng)
EVENT 6 SUMMARY
Archie Self did not feel sorry for himself after his agonising semi-final exit in Event 5 – instead storming back later in the day to win his second event of the 2024 Advanced Tour to go top of the overall rankings.
At 5-2 down in the final against Ireland’s O’Hara, Self must have feared it was not his day, especially when O’Hara took out 116 for a 15-dart break of throw. But Self’s composure did not waver, hauling himself back into the contest before eventually closing out the match and the title against the darts.
While defeat was harsh on O’Hara, it was a fitting reward for the tenacity and quality of 14-year-old Self from Thatcham in Berkshire, who played superbly throughout the day.
He kicked off the event with an 83.50 average in a 4-0 win over England’s Jayden Jones – and did not dip below that average until the final.
Daan Toxopeus of the Netherlands was beaten 4-2 in the last 16, before Self exacted revenge on Thompson for his earlier semi-final loss, beating the previous event’s champion 4-1 in the quarters.
The semi-final provided one of the matches of the day, with Self having to show character and quality to beat Jack Nankervis 5-4. The two talented darters traded blows throughout, Self opening with a 15-dart hold before Nankervis levelled in 17 and then broke throw for the lead.
Self won three on the bounce for a 4-2 lead, only for Nankervis to produce a brilliant 140 checkout against the darts.
The young Cornishman then drew level by holding throw with a 73 checkout, but two 140s in his first three visits in the deciding leg gave Self the platform to close out the win.
O’Hara can take plenty of heart from reaching his second final of this Advanced Tour so far.
After beating England’s Jack Johnson 4-1 and Gibraltar’s Bado 4-2 in the opening two rounds, he produced his best darts in the next two.
An 82.93 average saw him past Rune Van Damme of Belgium 4-2, before his 83.42 allowed him to edge past Ryan Branley (who averaged 88.31) 5-4 in another hugely exciting semi-final.
No player led by more than one leg at any stage in the contest, with O’Hara staying calm to take out 51 with Branley waiting on 25.
Quarter-finals:
Archie Self (Eng) 4-1 Kieran Thompson (Eng)
Jack Nankervis (Eng) 4-3 Oliver Haughan (Eng)
Aidan O’Hara (Ire) 4-2 Rune Van Damme (Bel)
Ryan Branley (Eng) 4-1 Daniel Stephenson (Eng)
Semi-finals:
Archie Self (Eng) 5-4 Jack Nankervis (Eng)
Aidan O’Hara (Ire) 5-4 Ryan Branley (Eng)
Final:
Archie Self (Eng) 6-5 Aidan O’Hara (Ire)
