Chisnall has the power in Oldham shoot-out

Photo: Chris Sunderland

DAVE CHISNALL (throwing) and Stephen Bunting battle it out in the final at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

DARTS: DAVE Chisnall was the king of the oche in the £2,500 Oldham Darts Open at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

The 30-year-old, runner-up to Martin Adams in this year’s BDO final, produced a stunning display to defeat Stephen Bunting 5-4.

Chisnall, who walks on to ‘I Predict A Riot’ by the Kaiser Chiefs, averaged 99.83 for every three darts thrown in a high-quality final.

The St Helens ace raced into a 2-0 lead in the eagerly-awaited showdown, only for Bunting (Merseyside) to level at 2-2.

The two finalists shared the next four legs, but it was Chisnall who held his nerve in the decider to take the £1,200 top prize. Bunting averaged 93.23.

Chisnall was in imperious form throughout the day-long event. He hit six 180s in the quarter-finals to book a last-fourth berth against Peter Hudson, who was swept aside 5-2.

With more than 150 entries, it was the biggest competition of its sort to be staged in Oldham.

Players were split into eight groups, with the top two in each qualifying for the last 16.

Two players from Oldham reached this stage – Friendship pub team-mates Geoff Tucker and Eric Plumb – but unfortunately they were drawn against each other.

Plumb emerged victorious 4-2, but went on to lose 4-2 to Rochdale’s Les Fitton in the quarter-finals.

One of the organisers, Graham Anderson, of Treble Darts and Trophies, said: “It was a great day of darts, capped by a world-class final. For Dave to average 99 over nine legs was superb throwing.

“There were no hiccups and the players were pleased with the set up of the dart boards, for which I thank Derek Quinn.”


OLDHAM’S top darts players visit Blackpool on Sunday for their latest fixture in the Lancashire GMC Elite Super Eights League. Players leave the Flowerpot at 11am.