Monday, December 17, 2012

Sports World

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Day One at Ally Pally Posted: 17 Dec 2012 04:06 AM PST Five matches take place from the Alexandra Palace on Friday in the PDC World Darts Championship. Reigning champion Adrian Lewis in action in the defence of the crown he won 12 months ago against Andy Hamilton in the final. Andree Welge and Leung Chung Nam square up for battle of the oche in the opening match of the night in the preliminary round. The winner will earn the chance to meet the Artist Kevin Painter later in the evening in the first round proper. Then it is the chance for either Robert Thornton or Magnus Caris to try and become to the first man to reach the second round of the draw. The Scot has had the best season of his career so far by winning the UK Open earlier in the year in Bolton where he defeated Phil Taylor in the final. He has though, never been past the third round of the World Championship in two attempts. There is money to be made betting on darts if you back him to make it through for the first time. Paul Nicholson takes on Dutchman Co Stompe in what looks to be one of the ties of the opening round. The Australian is the seeded player and reached the quarter-final in this competition in 2009. Last year he was eliminated by Kim Huybrechts in the third round. Stompe also knows all about reaching the last eight of this tournament. He did so in 2009 and 2010. However, his form has dipped in the last couple of years, in particular during this season where he has failed to make an impact in any of the premier events. If Lewis, favourite in the Betfair Darts markets, can beat Vos and go on to win this tournament once again, he will be only the second player in the history of the competition to win three consecutive titles.

Lewis on a hat-trick Posted: 17 Dec 2012 04:02 AM PST Adrian Lewis is bidding to become only the second player in the history of the PDC World Darts Championship to win three consecutive titles. Jackpot has been successful in the final event of the season in the past two campaigns, beating Gary Anderson in the final in 2011 and then 12 months later overcoming the Hammer Andy Hamilton, meaning the Darts Odds are most definitely in his favour. However, his form going into this year's tournament hasn't been the best. He has failed to win one of the major tournaments in 2012, with success only coming in the German Darts Masters and in the World Cup of Darts where he combined with Phil Taylor for England to defeat Simon Whitlock and Paul Nicholson of Australia in the final. Therefore there may be money to be made betting on darts  this year in games involving Lewis. Lewis' wife Sarah has also recently given birth to their first child which hasn't helped his preparation towards him defending his crown in London. His participation in the recent Players Champion Finals was in doubt with wife expected to give birth at any moment. However, he chose to play and was beaten in the second round by Taylor after beating Welshman Richie Burnett in his opening round fixture. Jackpot's best performance this season in a major came in the World Matchplay Championship where he went as far as the quarter-final before being beaten by the Bull Terry Jenkins 12-16. He failed to reach the play-offs for the Premier League and was unable to qualify from the group stage of the Grand Slam of Darts in a relatively disappointing campaign. The defending champion has been scheduled to take part on the opening night of this year's world championship where he will face Gino Vos on Friday, December 14. He has been handed the number two seed in the draw and would only face Taylor if the two men from Stoke were to make the final on January 1.

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