November 2012

JAMES WADE 5 – 1 Jan Dekker

James Wade got his first points in the 2012 William Hill Grand Slam of Darts with a comfortable victory against Jan Dekker.

The seven-time major winner triumphed 5-1 against his Dutch opponent in Wolverhampton on Sunday evening, to put his opening night defeat to Arron Monk behind him.

“I’m so happy to have hit my doubles,” said Wade, who recently took a short break from playing darts for health reasons.

“I did enough to win. It wasn’t a million miles away from what I can do.

“This week is all about building for the future. The last few weeks have been a very important time since the Grand Prix.

“I’m in a good place, I’m happy and I’m looking forward to playing good darts again.”

Wade bedded double four to take the opening leg but Dekker levelled up on tops.

A 177 helped ‘The Machine’ edge back ahead by hitting double top and he then grabbed a break of throw, posting double ten in a leg that saw him miss the bull for a 167 checkout.

Another successful dart at double ten moved Wade into a 4-1 lead.

And the world number three finished the job, hitting double top to take a the two points.

Wade will face Mervyn King in his final group game on Tuesday evening.

By Chris Murphy

Book tickets to see some of the world’s top darts players in action at The Carlsberg Masters, Birmingham on Friday December 7.

Images courtesy of Lawrence Lustig/PDC