WDF World Cup Youth Review

Well, the WDF World Cup is over, and everybody is on their way home from Denmark.

It was never going to to be easy for the American Youth Team, as they really lacked the international pedigree of most of their opponents. Despite some disappointing results, everyone gave 100%, and it provided a fantastic learning experience.

The Mixed Pairs was always going to be tough, with our pairs drawn against some formidable opposition. Kellie-May Buzzell and Seth Patenaude were up against some very good Dutch and German teams, and took group winners Jacqueline Rantsch and Alexander Steinmetz to a deciding leg.

Meanwhile, Cyndi Kelley and Kaden Anderson were up against red-hot favorites – and eventual champions – Paige Pauling and Thomas Banks, and the impressive Irish pairing of Rebecca Allen and Adam Dee. Their match against Allen and Dee could easily have gone either way, and had they won it, Cyndi and Kaden could have made it out of their group.

In the Girls’ Pairs round-robin group, Cyndi and Kellie-May had to face the aforementioned Rebecca Allen, and partner Christina Byrne, among others. Sadly, they failed to emerge from the group here also.

Kaden and Seth successfully negotiated their round-robin group in the pairs. They beat the highly-fancied Danes Nikolaj Joergensen and Sebastian Bech, and their solitary loss came against Hungarians Andras Borbely and Zsombor Baranyi – who topped the group. In the Quarter-Final, Kaden and Seth were edged out in a seven-leg thriller against Aussies Terence Morton and Jack Spencer. If only one more winning double had found the target…

Onto the singles, and again, the girls drew the short straws. Cyndi had to deal with German Kira Mertens, and eventual Gold Medalist, Paige Pauling (England), while Kellie-May succumbed to Jacqueline Rantsch and the classy Mongolian, Nomintuya Byambatsogt. Just the luck of the draw, sometimes.

Seth Patenaude was just pipped in his group match against Zsombor Baranyi, and again, had he won that, he would have been in contention to advance. Not for the first time, we had an American Youth in the same group as the eventual champ, this time, England’s Jenson Walker. Kaden’s group wasn’t much easier, with Mixed Pairs Champ Thomas Banks, and Ireland’s Adam Dee alongside. Anderson took the first leg against Dee, but was powerless as his opponent clinched the match with a timely 12-darter.

Yes, not what we had hoped, but the week in Esbjerg stands the quartet in good stead for the future!

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