A trip to Germany...in which Andy gets well and truly plastered!
FRIDAY afternoon myself, Adrian Gray, Tony Ayres and Dave Askew, all loaded into my car and headed off to Gladbeck in Germany for a weekend involving two Players Championship events.
The journey went fine; we even made an earlier train on the Eurotunnel. We drove on through France and into Belgium, and then decided to take a break. I'd driven for about four hours, so Adrian said he would drive the last hour. I was grateful for the rest, so let him take over.
About five minutes into his stint behind the wheel it started snowing…this started some cursing about perfect timing!
The weather didn't affect us, and we arrived at the hotel at around 9.30pm. We checked in, and then met up with the other players in the bar for a drink, then got an early night before the game in the morning.
On Saturday, we awoke to a crisp, sunny day, and a sprinkling of snow. We went to the tournament arena, and had a couple of hours practice. Due to the amount of non-members entering the event, we had over 200 entrants, meaning that there would be a lot of prelim rounds. I duly got awarded a match in the prelims against a Dutch player called Arjen Moen, apparently a very good player, and judging by his practice partners of Jelle Klassen, and Michael Van Gerwen, he was well known in Dutch darts.
He started our match well, and was on a double after 12 darts, with me on 109, I stepped up and checked it out in three darts. I went on to win the next four legs also, without missing a double. He took one leg, then in our 7th leg, he was again on a finish, with me stepping up for 164, I hit treble 20, followed by treble 18, then just missed the bull hitting a 25, this was the first dart at a double I'd missed in the match, but next throw I took out 25 in two darts to take a win.
Next up was Peter Wright, who has become famous recently for his multi-coloured hair extensions that he wears in the TV events.
We had another great game, but the result went 6-4 in his favour. One of the TV guys will get beat soon, I promise. I wasn't too disappointed, I'd played excellent darts.
Onto Sunday, my travel companions and I all practiced together, and I took the money in the practice games. This week hitting 170 and 130 finishes. I managed to hit 170, 130, and another 170 outshot in three consecutive throws, so cleaned out their Euros. The draw went up, and somehow out of 200 or so players, I'd managed to get the same guy as on Saturday, again in a prelim.
This match was completely different; it was a turnaround of accuracy from my earlier win against him. I was annoyed that I did not maintain my form, but that is darts I suppose – there is a fine line between success and failure.
By this time you might be asking when I found time to get plastered! Well here is the story…
I got ready to make the journey home, and was talking to Tony Ayres whilst leaning against a pillar.
My hands were behind my back, and we were waiting for Adi and Dave, so that we could set off. Suddenly I felt a slight pop in my right wrist, and I am unable to move my hand. It turns out that I had dislocated my wrist by leaning on it. I was pretty worried about this, as it was my throwing hand.
Myself and Adi headed off in a cab to hospital, where I must say the treatment was excellent. I saw a doctor, had x-rays, saw doctor, then got arm plastered to elbow, all in 90 minutes!
We got back to the venue, and poor Adrian had to drive home. All the time all that was going through my mind was how long I might be out of the game. Another visit to hospital in Eastbourne revealed no major problems, everything was back in place.
I just have a very sore wrist that is in need of rest.
I have had to pull out of this week's competition in Wigan, but hope to be fit enough to play in Crawley the following week. I'll play my first match next Friday in the Rob Canning Memorial Cup, to see whether it is likely to hold out. Fingers are crossed.
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Weather for Lewes
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -2 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: -0 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North east
