Lincolnshire darts stars excel in international events

Paula Jacklin and Sam Hewson were in action at the Turkish Darts Open, before flying straight to the Northern Ireland Open.

And Jacklin tasted victory in Europe, winning the Turkish Open Pairs tournament alongside Rachel Brookes of Yorkshire.

Gainsborough’s Jacklin then teamed up with youngster Hewson for the Mixed Pairs, going all the way to the semi-final before suffering a narrow defeat.

Hewson picked up some much needed ranking points by making it to the last eight of the singles, losing to eventual winner Martin Phillips.

Jacklin was impressed with her team-mate’s performances in Turkey.

She said: “Sam is the new kid on the block, and he’s taking big names to task and winning.”

The duo then flew to Northern Ireland, where despite an entry of over 500 in the men’s tournament, Hewson reached the the last eight again, once more winning valuable ranking points.

The Lincolnshire-based players formed a team again for the Mixed Pairs, and although they were beaten by the same pair for the second successive tournament, this time it was in the final.

The next weekend a county match followed, and their success continued as Jacklin and Hewson both had the highest average all weekend.

After a closely fought encounter the Lincolnshire versus Nottinghamshire match ended in an 18-18 draw.

Lincolnshire captain Des Jacklin said: “It was without doubt one of the tightest, closely fought weekends of the season.”

On the Sunday Paul Jacklin left the stage with single dart average of 20.43 and a £50 bonus.

Hewson, the youngest member of the Lincolnshire squad, won 4-2 on Sunday, with checkouts of 102, and 125, and the match award.

He left the stage £100 richer thanks to a single dart average of 29.49 and the highest average of the weekend.

Jacklin’s progress has pushed her into sixth in the English rankings table.

Lincolnshire’s next match is on 30th November and 1st December as they take on Devon at the Blues Club.

The action begins in the North Street venue at 12pm on Saturday, and 11am on Sunday.