Every year the number of participants increases and it is already the biggest event in Europe for the BDO.
Just to give you an idea....
On Friday I played pairs with Josina Cuijpers from The Netherlands.
Our first game was at 1030 on board 142. We played well all day, but lost in the last 16 against Deta Hedman/ Jo Clements.
The downside to having that many pairs is the long wait between the games. All in all though, very happy with the results. A big thank you to Josina: couldn't have done it without you.
L265: Geeraerts/ Cuijpers vs Koenen/ Van Es: 3-0
L128: van Tol/ Boekkooi vs Geeraerts/ Cuijpers: 0-3
L64: Geeraerts/ Cuijpers vs de Ridder/ Oudshoorn: 3-0
L32: Geeraerts/ Cuijpers vs Wolsink/ Hemeltjen: 3-0
L16: Hedman/ Clements vs Geeraerts/ Cuijpers: 3-2
We didn't play as well against Deta and Jo as we did in the other games and in all fairness, the first two legs Josina did all the scoring for us.
The Ladies' Pairs were won by Suzuki/Yamaguchi-Japan. Winstanley/ Hammond - ENG/AUS were runners-up.
The Men's Pairs Champions are Vos/ Van Peer. Runners-up are Kleermaker/ van Tergouw.
Saturday brought on the Singles event. My first game was at 1400, but I got there early anyway to get in a bit of practice. Only 16 practice boards for 4000+ players throughout the day is just not enough.
Anyway.... I really struggled with my doubles against Clarissa Landman. My scoring was pretty good, but I had extreme double trouble. I managed to win 3-2, but man... Those doubles seemed really small. :(
Same deal in my second game against Melanie Boersma. Scoring good, finishing appalling, but got away with a 3-2 win there too. (knock-knock on wood)
In the last 64 I was up against Karin Krappen and unfortunately lost 3-2. Missed 93 for the match.
Definitely need to hit the practice board hard though.
The Ladies' Singles Champion is Mikuru Suzuki and runner-up is Aileen De Graaf.
The Men's Singles Champion is Richard Veenstra. Runner-up is Ryan Hogarth.
Next up for me is the Scottish Open.