Red Dragon darts Alan Tabern Claims Group 2 Title

ALAN TABERN claimed victory in Group Two of the Championship League Darts with a 7-6 win over Kevin Painter in the final on Wednesday evening.

The St Helens man bounced back from the disappointment of a semi-final loss in Group One of the ground-breaking tournament to earn a place in October^s Winner^s Group alongside Phil Taylor.

Tabern emerged successful from the second day of play at Crondon Park GC in Essex in the new event, screened solely on the internet through the www.bet365.com and www.ladbrokes.com websites.

He finished fourth in the table following the round-robin league phase, which saw the eight competitors face each other once over the best of ten legs, before seeing off Andy Hamilton 6-5 in the semi-finals.

Tabern then came from 3-1 down in the final to take a 7-6 victory over Painter in the most dramatic fashion, earning himself £3,050 on the day and taking his earnings in the event so far to £5,300.

Painter was one of three players to enter the tournament in Group Two, and finished third in the league phase before defeating Mervyn King 6-5 in the semis, picking up £3,100 on the day.

He will now join King, Hamilton, James Wade and Wayne Mardle in returning for Group Three on Monday September 22, alongside newcomers Adrian Lewis, Colin Osborne and Denis Ovens.

Wade, the world number three and highest-ranked player on show in Group Two, missed out on the semi-finals for a second successive day by just one point.

Mardle finished two points adrift of the play-offs, but a draw against Painter early on proved crucial in him staying above the bottom two.

Defeats in his final three matches, including two whitewashes against Wade and Ronnie Baxter, left the Group One runner-up Colin Lloyd bottom of the Group Two table.

Baxter was also eliminated from the tournament, with three straight losses in the middle of the event costing him in the final outcome.

Group Two League Table

Prize Money Won