Haines Withers away at the 2012 Red Dragon Eastbourne Open

Jim Withers kept his nerve to clinch his maiden Eastbourne Title with a one leg 5 - 4 victory over tournament favourite Jonny Haines.

The 46-year-old Englishman fired x2 180^s in what was a great final display to hold off Haines who had been averaging in the 90^s all day.

Withers and Haines were 4 a piece going into the last leg, but it was Withers who showed complete control of his emotions and even managed a smiled on his way to the Eastbourne Title and a nice £1500.00 prize.

On a day of fierce periods of high scoring darts it was the consistent players that came through the floor matches, with some great displays from the youth players that also entered the event.

“This means so much to me and my family as I’m a local lad who has always chased the Eastbourne title for 20 years” said Withers.

Tournament favourite Johnny Haines was reflective in defeat saying "Jim really wanted that title and fair play to him for finishing it off".

The event kicked off on Friday night with the men’s and ladies pairs, with Sam Head and Micky Bridle beating Johnny Haines and Paul Cook in the Men’s final.  The Ladies Pairs was won by Donna Rainsley and Sue Bird both great staunch supporters of the weekend by beating Stella Loftus and Val Morris. The Mixed Pairs final again featured Johnny Haines partnering Sarah Aubrey but they were defeated by Tammy Mackenzie and Steve Mead.

Saturdays Men’s singles was another final featuring Johnny Haines which saw him beating Ken MacNeil. The number of entries for the Ladies singles was certainly affected by the county matches but it saw Sue Waterman overcoming Shirley Castle in the final. The Youth’s event which had more entries that the Ladies saw Joshua McCarthy beat Andrew Clark.