DARTS: Tough start to the season for county stars

It was a tough start to the PDC ProTour for the Northamptonshire contingent of darts aces.
PDC world champion Michael van Gerwen will be in Kettering in AprilPDC world champion Michael van Gerwen will be in Kettering in April
PDC world champion Michael van Gerwen will be in Kettering in April

Kettering’s Ricky Evans reached the last 32 of the first Players Championship event of the year at the Robin Park Tennis Centre in Wigan but that was the only highlight for the county players.

Evans enjoyed wins over Nathan Rafferty (6-5) and Reece Robinson (6-1) before he eventually bowed out 6-5 to Stephen Burton.

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Rushden’s James Richardson lost 6-4 to Daventry’s Matthew Edgar in the opening round while David Pallett, who is based in Kettering, went down 6-2 to Boris Koltsov at the first hurdle.

And the trio of county players all suffered first-round exits in Players Championship 2 on Sunday.

Evans lost 6-2 to Robert Thornton, Pallett went down 6-2 to John Goldie and Richardson was edged out 6-5 by Simon Stevenson.

All three will be back in action in the third and fourth Players Championships at the same venue.

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Reigning PDC world champion Michael van Gerwen will headline a special darts exhibition in Kettering in April.

The Dutch superstar, who is ranked number one and won the world title for the third time in January, will be joined by the legendary Bobby George as well as Daryl Fitton, Anastasia Dobromyslova and Corrine Hammond for the Kettering Darts Masters.

The event, which is being promoted by modusdarts.tv, will take place at Kettering Conference Centre on Saturday, April 6.

Anyone would like to buy tickets should visit the website dartshop.tv/kettering