The first round of the male version of the BDO World Championship concludes at the Lakeside Country Club on Tuesday when the final six games are played over two packed sessions of play.
There are some big names on show in both sessions with no fewer than two world champions in action and another couple who have made the semi-final of this prestigious tournament.
The afternoon begins with a cracking looking match between Martin Adams and Jeff Smith. Wolfie has won this title on three occasions and was the losing finalist last year. Smith made his debut last year and reached the semi-final and he looked very good in his preliminary round match on Saturday night.
I think Adams will just about have enough to come through this but he doesn’t have a lot of room for error against the confident Canadian who will take his chances if he should get them. Adams is no stranger to a first round tussle though and that might stand him in good stead. I don’t see a betting angle here.
A preliminary round winner is in action in the second game of the day when Peter Sajwani goes up against the debutant Mark McGeeney. Sajwani made the last 16 here last year but he’ll need a stronger performance in this match than he produced on Sunday.
McGeeney might be a debutant in this tournament but he’s already reached the quarter finals of the Winmau World Masters and the semi-final of the BDO World Trophy so his big stage credentials can’t be questioned. Some of his averages in those matches were huge too so if he settles down quickly he’ll have no problem here.
In fact if he gets going from the outset I can see him winning 3-0. Sajwani ended up with an average marginally over 80 against Hewson but if you take out the set he won 3-0 he barely averaged 75 for the rest of it and that won’t get him anything here.
The closing match of the afternoon could be a really good contest between two players who are experienced on the Lakeside stage without ever truly fulfilling their potential on it.
Both Gary Robson and Madars Razma have lovely looking throws and can hit big scores but then they’ll throw in a load of pap around it and miss plenty of doubles so in terms of picking a winner this one is a bit of a lottery.
If you’ve got big cahoonas you would certainly be getting value out of Razma but there’s no way I’m brave enough to get involved in this. I’ll just sit and watch what should be a match full of drama.
The evening session gets underway with the BDO World Trophy winner Geert de Vos in action. He faces the Greek preliminary round winner Kostas Pantelidis for a place in the second round against Scott Waites.
Pantelidis looked ok for a player playing at this level for the first time but no more than that and you would be majorly surprised if de Vos doesn’t win this but the Belgian is known for missing a load of doubles and with that in mind he immediately becomes someone I will let win given the short price he currently is.
I will get involved in the second match of the evening where I see the Japan star Seigo Asada as good value to see off Wesley Harms. He’s by no means a certainty but like de Vos he’s a very heavy scorer although he can be a bit shaky on his finishing.
Asada hit 46 scores of 100 or more in his four set win over Darius Labanauskas in the preliminary round and a repeat of that will heap the pressure on Harms. Harms is a steady scorer who at times can be relentless but nothing like we saw from Asada.
For me this match is all about Asada’s finishing and it might be as a huge underdog he relaxes and attacks the doubles and if he does he could well cause a major upset in this match.
Two Yorkshire county stars meet in the final match of the first round when Brian Dawson takes on John Walton. Walton looked really good in winning his prelim match on Monday although there was a time where Rob Modra looked like he was getting on top which would be a concern.
I’m not sure what to make of Dawson. His results on the floor have been quite encouraging but we’ve seen many a floor specialist come unstuck on this stage and although he was a quarter finalist here last year you’d be stretching the truth to say he played well at any point.
Dawson is a player who hangs in there and hits good shots at the right time but if I was to take him I’d want a bit bigger than I’m getting so I’ll sit this one out and see which way it goes.
In the women’s draw two more first round matches see Deta Hedman looking to take advantage of her half of the draw opening up when she faces Corinne Hammond and then Zoe Jones faces Tina Osborne in what could be a banana skin for the seed. I wouldn’t put anyone off backing Osborne but me personally I’m sitting this first round out with hopefully stronger punts coming along in the rest of the tournament.
Back M.McGeeney to beat P.Sajwani 3-0 for a 3/10 stake at 2.88 with Paddy Power
Back S.Asada to beat W.Harms for a 3/10 stake at 3.30 with Sportingbet
