WDF Europe Cup Men Teams 2002

The thirteenth edition of the WDF Europe Cup was held in Mechelen, Belgium, from 17 to 19 October. The Nekker event hall is the place of action. Nineteen countries participated in the men and women, including Russia, which is present for the first time in ten years.

With only 19 countries present in 2002, the preliminary group round will be played in four groups. It had to happen that there are casualties in the group phase. For example, Germany crashes out in the group with England and Sweden and Belgium and Ireland do not survive the group phase either. Most surprising is the elimination of Northern Ireland by Italy. The Italians win the match with 9-5 and are surprisingly qualified for the quarterfinals.

In the quarterfinals the fairy-tale ends for the Italians, the Dutch quartet is too strong with 9 1. Finland wins the Scandinavian duel against Sweden with 9-6. In the other two quarterfinals, a 17th and deciding leg must be played. Scotland beats Denmark and Wales, perhaps surprisingly, beats England. The English hereby open the door for Scotland to also take the overall title. For that, Scotland must win the team tournament.

in the semi-finals, the Scottish quartet Gary Anderson, George Dalglish, Peter Johnstone & Mike Veitch is too strong for the Welsh foursome consisting of Robert Hughes, Martin Phillips, Peter Johns & Richard Herbert. It finishes 9-5 to the Scots. The other semi-final starts with a bang, the first two players on the oche are Raymond van Barneveld for the Netherlands and Marco Pusa for Finland. Van Barneveld becomes the first player in history to hit a nine-dart at a WDF Europe Cup. After two 180’s, the 141 finish also goes off the board. It also helps the Netherlands to win in the match. Raymond van Barneveld, Vincent van der Voort, Co Stompe & Albertino Essers win 9-7 against the Finns Ulf Ceder, Jarkko Komula, Marko Pusa, Kim Viljanen.

The final between the Scots Gary Anderson, George Dalglish, Peter Johnstone & Mike Veitch and the Dutch foursome Raymond van Barneveld, Vincent van der Voort, Co Stompe & Albertino Essers will be a very exciting one. Until 8-8 everything is level. Then both managers must appoint a player to play the 17th and deciding leg. For the Netherlands, Raymond van Barneveld immediately steps forward, taking his responsibility as team captain and number one in the world. The enthusiasm of the Scots is much less. Nobody really wants to play this deciding leg. After all, a victory in the team tournament also results in the overall WDF Europe and none of the four players actually want to bear that responsibility. In the end it is Peter Johnstone, who has already won the singles tournament, who has to do it for the Scots. He will not be troubled by nervousness, as it turns out, in 12 darts he finishes the last leg and brings Scotland not only the gold in the team tournament but also the overall victory in the WDF Europe Cup in 2002.

The only and last time Scotland had won the team tournament was in 1978 when the first edition was played. The Netherlands has to settle for silver for the second time in a row.

WDF Europe Cup Men Teams

About WDF Europe Cup Men Teams 2002

Competitors Of WDF Europe Cup Men Teams 2002

Giuseppe Accorsi

Martin Adams

Gary Anderson

Bela Balogh

Søren Behrendsen

Nandor Bezzeg

Zanis Buklovski

Dietmar Burger

Brian Buur

Ulf Ceder

Erik Clarys

Gwen Cornec

George Dalglish

Terje Deras

John Elder

Albertino Essers

Andy Fordham

Gerald Fox

David Glenn

Brendan Grace

Helge Guddal

Rainer Haas

Richard Herbert

Robert Hughes

Peter Johns

Peter Johnstone

Ole Jorgensen

August Jost

Mervyn King

Goran Klemme

Jarkko Komula

Markus Korhonen

Jacques Langston

Henrik Primdal

Jean-Luc Leclercq

Michael Leclercq

Igor Manturov

Paul McDonald

Sean McGowan

Richard McMahon

Norbert Meszes

Ronalds Mezals

Stefan Nagy

Jorg Neumann

Jonas Olovsson

Arnold Paap

Martin Phillips

Loris Polese

Goran Protega

Marko Pusa

Andrei Ratnikov

Colin Rice

Laurent Saillour

Yuri Salev

John Sandåker

Peter Schonauer

Tomas Seyler

Chris Stephani

Co Stompé

Mensur Suljovic

Marco Taels

Franz Thaler

Walter Tschudin

Chris Van den Bergh

Arnis Veidemanis

Maris Veidemanis

Mike Veitch

Kim Viljanen

Mark Vincze

Sergei Vodicar

Urs Vonrufs

John Walton

Paul Watton

Alexey Zhuravlev

Raymond van Barneveld

Vincent van der Voort

Callers Of WDF Europe Cup Men Teams 2002