2nd Gauteng Open held on Saturday 11 February 2023

Yesterday saw the 2nd GDF Open, hosted at Kingsway Club, Brakpan. It was a cold and rainy day (contributing to the low attendance from all Associations), but the darts again was on fire🎯

The Blue Machine Family was again well represented even in the Junior Section with Martin Marais (Tienie) and Nakita de Lange ending 5th and 7th respectively out of 17 players. You make us proud to have you in the family.

Thea Joubert, Lynette Kruger, Delian Bennett, Bradley Gertenbach, Hugo Deysel, Vaughn Brendon Smith, Brad Blume, Wayne Ellis, Chipoyera Tinashe, Julian Kevin Ness, Johan Kruger and Walther Harris flew the ESDA flag high in the Seniors Section. Unfortunately, it was not such a fantastic day for everyone with most not moving past the Block Round. A special thank you to Cheyenne Ness for attending and supporting us all.

Lynette, Walther, Johan, Julian, Tinashe, Brad and Bradley fell out in the Block Section. There was some tough competition, and we are certain that next time, the darts will fall in your favour!

The players past the Block Section who progressed and their results are:

Thea Joubert made it to the Top 16 in the Ladies section but her journey was unfortunately ended when she lost 1 - 2 to Jalize. She threw a couple of 140's with so many near misses on a 180. Delian Bennett made it to the Quarter Finals after having beaten Magdelize 2 - 0 in the Top 16. But Top 8 was also where her journey ended as she lost 0 - 2 against some stellar darts by Charmaine.

Vaughn Brendon Smith was able to progress through to the Top 32 but that too was where his journey came to an end.

Wayne Ellis made it all the way to the Semi Finals but there were no family ties in this match, as he was beaten by fellow teammate, Hugo. Wayne went on to play out for 3rd and 4th place and we are proud of you for taking 3rd place home💪🥉🏆 Wayne threw a total of 2 x 180's for the day.

Hugo Deysel made mincemeat of his competition again and motored through all the way to the finals against Shawn. The competition was stiff, but Hugo came through to take 1st place. We are proud of you Hugo as you showed once again that you have ice in your veins. 💪🥇🏆 Hugo threw a total of 3 x 180's for the day and achieved a closure of 161 and a phenomenal 12 darter in the final.

Well done to each and every one of you that made the effort to register and play yesterday. It was yet again a long and gruelling day, but we showed up and we represented our family well.🎯