Phil Taylor crashes out to Leonard Gates in the quarter-finals of the Champions of Champions
Phil Taylor’s hopes of winning his first World Seniors Tour title were dashed by Leonard Gates in the Champions of Champions quarter-finals in Blackpool.
After a disappointing performance at last month’s World Seniors Championship, The Power returned to televised action for the first eight-player tournament, which will be televised on Channel 5 this weekend.
He faced the popular Gates, who had traveled over 6000 miles just to play in Friday’s one-shot qualifier for the right to win a quarter-final with the legendary 16-time world champion.
Soulger defeated Ronnie Baxter with a stunning 109 average en route to the event’s ‘Golden Ticket’ and he seized the opportunity with a 10-8 triumph over Taylor at VIVA! at Blackpool.
It was a hard fought fight that looked like it was going to finish as Gates landed a massive 121 checkout to level the scores at 7-7 before ending with a clean 78 finish with 8-7 in leadership went.
Though power broke back to restore parity, Gates went 9-8 with a 104 checkout before hitting 282 in six darts in the next leg to seal a fine win.
Martin Adams defeated Trina Gulliver MBE to set up a duel with Gates – but he was soon in tears during a special trophy presentation for his darts legend.
Earlier this month, the 38 trophies and plaques belonging to the now-defunct British Darts Organization were auctioned off to pay off creditors.
Gulliver was the most successful player, lifting the Lakeside women’s trophy ten times in her career from 2001 to 2016, and has recently been involved in World Senior Tour televised events.
The 53-year-old delivered a fantastic fight to Wolfie during their Champion of Champions quarter-finals in Blackpool on Saturday before going 10-7 by – but she was kept on stage as presenter Helen Chamberlain.
Gulliver was then presented with the Women’s World Cup trophy, which was purchased during the auction by one of the tournament sponsors LP Metal Detecting.
It was a priceless moment that left Wolfie in tears!
Earlier, Richie Howson got some measure of revenge for his senior World Cup final defeat by Robert Thornton by defeating the Scot 10-6.
The Owl averaged 86 and was never really threatened after leading 4-1, 6-2, although Thornton showed a hint of revival when he won the 12th leg from a deficit of 7-5.
Howson will now meet David Cameron in the semi-finals on Sunday afternoon after last year’s World Seniors Masters winner defeated Kevin Painter 10-5.
World Seniors Champion of Champions: Draw & Tournament Bracket
SATURDAY 25 MARCH
Time: 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m
TV Channel: Channel 5
QUARTER FINALS
The best of 19 legs
- Robert Thornton 6-10 Richie Howson
- David Cameron 10-5 Kevin Painter
- Phil Taylor 8-10 Leonard Gates
- Martin Adams vs Trina Gulliver
SUNDAY 26 MARCH
Time: 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m
TV Channel: Channel 5
SEMIFINALS
The best of 25 legs
- Richie Howson vs David Cameron
- Leonard Gates vs. Adams/Gulliver
FINAL
The best of 25 legs
- Winner SF 1 vs. Winner SF 2
World Seniors Champion of Champions: How to Watch
The event will be broadcast live and exclusively on free-to-air terrestrial TV on Channel 5.