Trio celebrate WDDA World Matchplay titles in Blackpool

Vicky Martin, Gareth Smith and Garry Bennett all celebrated victory on the Winter Gardens stage in the WDDA World Matchplay finals in Blackpool this week.

The World Disability Darts Association once again held the finals of their World Matchplay events on stage in Blackpool, as part of the pre-event build-up at the Betfred World Matchplay - having first been part of the Winter Gardens action in 2022.

This year's events were preceded earlier on each afternoon by the semi-finals, as four players in each category were welcomed by the PDC to the iconic Empress Ballroom.

Martin was a 2-0 winner against Avril Patrick in Monday's Ladies final to begin the three days of action at the Winter Gardens.

Martin also overcame Mandy Howard by the same scoreline in the semi-finals - which were held backstage - before Patrick was beaten in the final for the second consecutive year.

An emotional Smith then fought back to defeat Rab Sutherland in Tuesday’s Compris final, with Sutherland left to rue back-to-back final defeats in Blackpool.

Sutherland averaged almost 20 points more than Smith in their respective semi-final wins, but a terrific 140 in the deciding leg from Smith inspired him to a narrow 2-1 victory.

Bennett then stormed to victory in Wednesday’s Classic division, defeating 14-year-old prodigy Robert Sutherland Jnr, who has represented Scotland in the Junior Darts Corporation and overcame Finland's Patrick Kulmala in the semis.

Bennett landed a maximum in the opening leg before sealing the title with a 72 combination in leg two, having produced an astonishing 107.36 average in his semi-final success against Drew Callary.