WDF Europe Cup Men Pairs 2012

The eighteenth edition of the European Cup would initially be held in Germany, but they had to give the organization back to the WDF. Belgium then wanted to take over, but they too did not get the organization up and running on time. Eventually it is decided to return to Turkey where the Cup was held two years earlier. For the first time in the history, two consecutive editions are not only held in the same country, the same place, but also in the same location; The Grand Haber hotel in Kemer. For the first time in history 30 countries are registered in the men’s competition, with three fewer teams for the ladies. Debutants are Bulgaria, Catalonia, Jersey and Luxembourg.

Only Belgium has both pairs left in the quarterfinals. Ronny Huybrechts & Geert de Vos win 4-3 against the duo Jonny Clayton & David Smith-Hayes from Wales. The other Belgian pair is also victorious in the last eight. Davyd Venken & Donnie Michels beat Daryl Gurney & David Glenn from Northern Ireland, also 4-3. The Dutch pair Jan Dekker & Christian Kist win 4-2 against the Finns Kim Viljanen & Jani Haavisto. The defending champions from England Martin Adams & Scott Waites are also there this year, but they have been split by their manager. Waites plays with Tony O’Shea this year and they soon lose to the Belgians Venken & Michels in the last 32. Martin Adams is playing with Martin Atkins this year and tries to win this pairs title for the fifth time, with his fifth different partner. Quite surprisingly, this mission comes to an end in the quarterfinals against Lithuanians Darius Labanauskas & Arunas Ciplys. They seem to perform best under pressure because they win in a seventh and deciding leg for the third game in a row.

In the semi-finals, the Lithuanians also play very well. They beat Ronny Huybrechts & Geert de Vos 5-3. In the other semi-finals, Jan Dekker & Christian Kist beat the other Belgian pair Davyd Venken & Donnie Michels. That is not easy because a ninth and decisive leg is needed. The final of the pairs is on the podium a day later and the Lithuanians would have rather seen that differently in retrospect. They never come close to the form they had on the floor and the Dutch do. Thus, the final never really becomes a match and Darius Labanauskas & Arunas Ciplys lose without winning a leg.

Jan Dekker & Christian Kist are the third Dutch pair with this victory to win gold at a WDF Europe Cup after Raymond van Barneveld & Co Stompé in 2000 and Raymond van Barneveld & Vincent van der Voort in 2004.

WDF Europe Cup Men Pairs

About WDF Europe Cup Men Pairs 2012

Competitors Of WDF Europe Cup Men Pairs 2012

Øyvind Aasland

Martin Adams

Vladimir Andersen

Mats Andersson

Martin Atkins (Leeds)

Kagan Aytek

Roy Baillie

Craig Baxter

Tom Becker

Doroteo Bermudez

Przemyslaw Bobrowski

Thomas Bremgartner

Ulf Ceder

Cristian Cimpoca

Arunas Ciplys

Mingo Claudiano

Jonny Clayton

Darren Clifford

Alessandro Colnaghi

Jason Cullen

Rune David

Geert De Vos

Jan Dekker

Lennart Efraimsson

Halgrímur Egilsson

Vegar Elvevoll

Johan Engström

Steve Eusebini

Maksim Evmenenkov

Oliver Ferenc

Adrian Frim

David Glenn

Martin Goodin

Andrej Gorjak

Pere Grau

Gianluca Grillini

Daryl Gurney

Jani Haavisto

Robert Hansen

Wesley Harms

Glenn Honoré

Ronny Huybrechts

Krasimir Ivanov

Jiri Jenicek

Frede Johansen

Stig Jorgensen

Aleksey Kadochnikov

Christoph Kappeler

Philip Karall

Engin Kayaoglu

Joe Kieffer

Christian Kist

Christoph Kleindienst

Boris Koltsov

Jarkko Komula

Ljubomir Krkljes

Nikolai Krustev

Stefan Kuntner

Darius Labanauskas

Daniel Larsson

Renaud Lescure

Marin Marinov

Stephen McDonnell

Sean McGowan

Terry McNulty

Donie Michels

Steven Miles

Einar Moller

Ross Montgomery

Dave Moore

Gintaras Nagevius

Razyan Negot

Ivan Neykov

Tony O'Shea

Roman Obukhov

Michal Ondo

Tihomir Patrik