BDO World Darts Championship 2016: Scores and Results from Friday
Richard Veenstra will square off against Jeff Smith in the semi-finals of the BDO World Darts Championships after he eliminated reigning champion Scott Mitchell on Friday evening.
The unseeded Dutchman upset the odds to get the better of the 2015 winner, edging a brilliant match 5-3. Smith, also unseeded, is through after he surged past Dennis Harbour in a 5-2 triumph.
Scott Waites will face Jamie Hughes in the other semi as they both secured fine wins during the afternoon session.
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Ninth seed Waites notched one of the shocks of the tournament in a thrilling last eight tussle, eliminating top seed Glen Durrant 5-4. Hughes, seeded fourth for this world championship, enjoyed a much more straightforward victory due to his superb standards, getting the better of Wesley Harms 5-1.
Here’s a recap of the results from Friday’s play at Lakeside and look back at the highlights of another absorbing day from the BDO showpiece.
| Glen Durrant | 4-5 | Scott Waites |
| Jamie Hughes | 5-1 | Wesley Harms |
| Jeff Smith | 5-2 | Dennis Harbour |
| Scott Mitchell | 3-5 | Richard Veenstra |
Durrant Defeated in Thriller
With Martin Adams and Jeffrey de Graaf—seeded second and third, respectively, for this competition—out in the first round, there seemed to be a wonderful opportunity for Durrant to go on and secure his maiden world championship. But he ran into a determined competitor in Waites.
Indeed, Durrant actually established a 3-1 lead after four sets and had the darts in hand to extend that advantage to 4-1; the same scenario surfaced at 4-2, with the top seed seemingly on the brink of progression. But Waites, who won this title in 2013, showed the credentials of a world champion, as he clung on in the contest.
From there, he won three straight sets as Durrant missed a match dart at bullseye plus a whopping six darts for a 2-0 lead in the decider, which surely would have proved decisive.
As noted by Live Darts, the former champion was thankful Durrant’s levels slipped, while the top seed was left to rue another missed opportunity at Lakeside:
It’s a result that completely opens up the draw, with Hughes now arguably the favourite to go on and win this title. And during his accomplished victory over Harms, the 29-year-old exuded an aura of a player who seems ready to make that big step.
It was clear early on that Hughes was much more settled under pressure as he marched into a 2-0 lead. The Dutchman was able to halve the deficit, but it merely prompted his opponent to move through the gears, notching a 5-1 win befitting of the gulf in quality between the two players.
As noted by the Oche Balboa Twitter feed, Harms was simply beaten by a player who brought his very best to the stage:
"Much Better from Jamie Hughes that was, Harms did not play too badly in parts, good start to the day #BDO #Darts
— Oche Balboa (@oche_balboa) January 8, 2016"
After an afternoon of surprises, we were treated to another in the evening, as Mitchell's hopes of retaining his title were ended by a superb showing from Veenstra.
Having knocked out third seed Jeffrey de Graaf in the opening round, the Dutchman has proven he has what it takes to live with the very top players. And he did so again superbly against Mitchell, racing into a 4-1 lead.
There were some nervous moments for Veenstra, as the reigning champion did claw a couple of legs back to make matters tense. But the 30-year-old saw out the match with darts in hand in the eighth set, cementing his status as an extremely dangerous player at this point of the tournament.
As 3 Dart Analyst noted afterwards, considering it's the Dutchman's debut at Lakeside, he's done superbly to get this far:
He’ll face Smith in the second semi-final, as the Canadian ended Dennis Harbour’s encouraging run at Lakeside with a 5-2 win.
Harbour actually settled the better of the two players in this one, racing into a 2-0 lead after some brilliant early scoring. But Smith, who also made it to the last four in last year’s tournament, gradually found his groove to great effect, rattling off an impressive five legs in succession to book his semi-final spot.
As we can see here courtesy of the Tungsten Tales account, Smith was very pleased with his efforts:
The semi-finals are always a wonderful watch at Lakeside and with a host of big names eliminated, there’s every chance we will see an outsider come through and land the crown this year.
Hughes is looking in tremendous form at the moment and seems like a man that’ll be very tough to topple. The fourth seed was magnificent in dispatching a dangerous opponent in Harms and although he’ll have his work cut out in the last four to get past Waites, this is looking like the year the 29-year-old will make good on his potential.
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