Geert de Vos blows away Tony ‘Tornado’ West

Belgian Geert de Vos managed to pull off a major upset in the very first round of the BDO World Championship at Frimley Green, beating Tony ‘Tornado’ West 3-1.

Tony West didn’t have the best preparation for the match as he left one his darts in Holland, and had to try various players’ darts before finding a suitable set for him. Those suitable darts belonged to Tony Martin – who is the husband of the Women’s Semi Finalist Anastasia Dobromyslova, and with Martins’ darts, West hit a sweet 180 on a practice throw.

De Vos showed no nerves on his big-stage debut, making a great start to the match and took the opening leg in just 15 darts, and followed that up by stealing the throw in the second leg. Tony West won the third leg and then Geert de Vos managed to miss four darts for the set and Tony West took full advantage and took the fourth. The two players battled to win the fifth and deciding leg but it was the relatively unknown Belgian who clinched the leg, and therefore the set with a Double 6 finish.

Each of the players won their respective throwing legs in the second set, and West was able to put together a 13-dart finish in the third leg. West then missed the chance to win the set in the fourth leg and the Belgian capitalised by finishing the leg with a double-tops. West battled back to level the sets and revive his hopes of making the second round.

De Vos had the throwing advantage in the third set and nudged back in front with a 99 finish, which included two consecutive double tops.

The fourth set provided the Belgian with the opportunity to progress through to the second round, and the Belgian hit 140 and 121 to open up a gap, but then nerves got the better of him and he missed two double tops. West followed this up by also missing double tops for a 108 finish and then three shots at Double 10, but De Vos clinched the match with a double 10 to confirm his place in the second round.