October 2018

Since James and his wife Samantha announced the birth of their son, there can be no denying that Wadey has some new-found motivation – commenting in interviews since Arthur James was born earlier this month “I have someone to play for now”. 

That statement was never truer this weekend, when he proved there is no messing with ‘The Machine’ as he was crowned winner of the Unibet European Championship in Dortmund.

The tournament began for James on Friday afternoon, when he faced Martin Schindler, winning 6-3.

Saturday evening’s last 16 round saw Ricky Evans face our champion.  Fans saw Ricky break the first leg, but James was to follow this up with seven straight legs, including four 14-dart finishes, and an overall 10-5 win to secure his place in the quarter finals.

It was England v’s Wales as James and Gerwyn Price stepped up to the oche on Sunday afternoon.  A neck and neck performance was to follow but it was the dramatic decider that clinched the deal for Wadey 10-9.

It was then onto the semi-final’s where James was to meet Max Hopp.  As play began, #TeamWade fans were wondering if the dream may be over as Max took a 9-5 lead.  James fought back with style, winning six of the final seven legs and going on to take the overall win of 11-10.

As the scene was set for the final, Wadey was to meet Simon Whitlock, who had also played some very impressive darts and won some battles over the course of the weekend to win his place on this particular stage.

As play began, ‘The Wizard’ made a strong start with a 3-1 lead.  ‘The Machine’ responded with three successive legs and a 4-3 lead before the leg by leg battle commenced resulting in 8-8.

It was then #TeamWade fans watching at home and abroad saw the true determination and concentration in James’ eyes to ‘do this for his boy’ by pushing forward with successive 13-dart legs. 

With victory in sight, he did it, hitting the double ten to clinch his eighth major title.

Arthur, that one was for you! #forArthur … and your Mum of course.

James now ranks sixth in the PDC Order of Merit. His success this weekend has also secured his spot at the Grand Slam of Darts, where he reached the final in 2016.  The match will take place in Wolverhampton in November and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports.

James will next be playing this weekend, at the World Series of Darts Finals which takes place between November 2-4 at the Multiversum in Schwechat, Vienna and will be broadcast live on ITV4 and on PDCTV-HD. For more updates on this weekend’s championship, click here

 

Following a weekend of impressive wins at the European Darts Trophy in Germany, Sunday night saw James reach his fourth PDC ranking final of the year. This time, there was a new member of #TeamWade supporting James – his son, Arthur James Wade, who James and his wife Samantha announced had been born earlier in the week.

It was clear that Arthur was his inspiration with the world left handed champion commenting during interviews “I have got someone to play for now”.

James’ impressive performance began on Saturday evening when he beat Toni Alcinas 6-4 seeing him safely into Sunday afternoon’s third round match against Darren Webster, where he secured his place in the quarter finals, winning 6-3.

There was no stopping Wadey in the Quarters against world champion Rob Cross, which again saw James win 6-3.

As evening play continued, it was Richard North who stepped up to the oche to face James in the Semi-Finals with James winning 7-4.

As the finals approached, for the second time this year in the European Tour, it was James to play against world number one Michael Van Gerwen.

As the match began, Wadey fans were treated to an early leg lead when he landed a 95 finish to take a 2-1 advantage. As play continued, a bullseye-19-bullseye finish saw MVG go 4-2 up swiftly followed by an 82 finish from James to narrow the gap to 4-3.

An overall victory wasn’t to be for James as Michael then proceeded to take four legs back to back which saw James lifting the runner-up trophy.

James will next be playing this weekend, October 20-21, in the Players Championship double-header at the Barnsley Metrodome which will be broadcast live on PDCTV, for more updates on this weekend’s championship, click here