Bellmont and Geiger take titles at SDC Tour 3 and 4

Tuesday, 04 July 2023 at 20:00

Last weekend, the third and fourth events of the SDC season took place at KK Thun, the site of last year's SDC Tour Finals. Stefan Bellmont took the title on Saturday, while the final victory on Sunday went to Sven Geiger.

A total of 87 SDC Tour Card holders had registered, while 29 reserve players were also willing to play. Many great players had cancelled their participation, including Marcel Walpen (wrist injury), Rocco Fulciniti and Jochen Graudenz.

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SCD Tour 3

The tournament was played in 32 groups, 20 4-player groups and 12 4-player groups. Only the two first-placed players advanced to the final 64. The biggest surprise in the group stage was that Ivo Furer and Sandro Egli did not advance from their groups. There were a few surprises at the last 64. The match of this round was won by Lukas Dallmann, who beat Mathias Jost 4-3. Last tournament's finalist Thierry Arpagaus also lost in the round of the last 64, while Sylvia Schlapbach recorded a 4-1 victory.

While Dallmann recorded an impressive victory in the round of the last 64, he was defeated 3-4 by Roland Schlapbach in the round of the last 32. Frieder Lang also suffered a defeat as Patrick Ganter proved too strong with a 4-1 victory. Barry Nelson from Scotland could not continue his strong performance from the first tournament of the season when he lost in the round of the last 32 to Remo Zwahlen, who recorded an average of 80+.

Among the last sixteen, four games went in a tie. Andy Bless defeated Felix Schiertz 4-3, with both players playing exceptionally well. Luis Camacho prevailed in a thrilling match against former SDC Tour winner Patrick Ganter, winning in a decisive leg. The talented Ansh Sood found himself in a similar situation against Roland Schlapbach and needed a deciding leg to secure the win.

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In three of the four quarter-finals, three players clearly dominated their opponents. Stefan Bellmont defeated Croatian Matija Prpic 5-1 with an average of 86 and Camacho won from Italian Alessandro Tocci with the same result. Andy Bless, on the other hand, did not give his opponent a chance in the quarterfinals and recorded a flawless 5-0 victory over Marco Schenk. In the final quarterfinals, it was Ansh Sood who made it to the semifinals for the second time by defeating Christoph Schuhmann 5-3.

The first finalist of the weekend was Andy Bless, who defeated Luis Camacho 6-4. Bless took a quick 4-0 lead, but Camacho made a strong comeback and came back to 5-3 and 5-4. An 86 finish secured Bless a spot in the final. In the other semifinal, it was a deciding leg between Belmont and Sood. The 20-year-old Sood had five matchdarts on tops but missed them. After a few misses on doubles, Bellmont managed to hit double 2 to reach the final again.

After holding his own leg three times, Bellmont got the first break in the fourth leg of the final. He broke Bless with a 20-darter and then kept his own leg with a 17-darter to make it 4-1. In the sixth leg, Bless looked to keep his own leg with a 142 checkout but missed double 20. Bellmont broke for the second time to make it 5-1 and then kept his own leg with a 16-darter for 6-1. Bless struck back in the eighth leg and notched a 76 finish to cut the deficit to 6-2. Bellmont then decided the match after that, capturing his second title of the season.

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SCD Tour 4

On Sunday, July 2, the fourth SDC Tour tournament of the season took place. A total of 123 players were at the start, including 97 SDC Tour Card holders and 26 reserve players. The winner of the SDC Tour 2, Marco Obst, and Saturday's finalists did not play on Sunday, so there was a great chance for another winner in the SDC Circuit.

The tournament was played in 32 groups, 29 groups of four and 4 groups of three. Only the top two in each group were allowed to advance to the round of the final 64. At the last 64, most of the favorites won their matches. In the round of the last 32, Patrick Ganter lost 4-3 to Christoph Schuhmann, which meant there would be a new winner in Thun. Sven Hofmann and Sven Gewalt dropped out as they both lost in the round of the last 32.

Saturday's semifinalists were eliminated in the eighth finals. Ansh Sood lost in a decider to Fabio Piscitelli, while Luis Camacho was defeated 4-0 by Sven Geiger.

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In the quarterfinals, three Swiss players won their matches. Felix Schiertz defeated Sebastian Jacobi 5-1, while Sven Geiger and Marcel Gugger won 5-3 over Fabio Piscitelli and Denis Schnetzer, respectively. The other semifinalist was Frieder Lang, the highest seeded player from last season. He defeated his compatriot Lukas Dallmann 5-2.

There were two 6-2 wins in the semifinals. Schiertz and Geiger reached their first finals in the SDC Circuit. Schiertz beat Lang with an average of 78, while Geiger beat Gugger with an average of 77.

Schiertz started the final best, winning three of the first four legs to take a 3-1 lead. Then it was Geiger who took the initiative, with a 102 checkout followed by a 13-darter and a 14-darter for a 4-3 lead. That was followed by two legs that went with the darts. Geiger then threw out 75 to make it 6-4.

Schiertz did not give up and fought his way back into the final. With a 16-darter and a 19-darter, Schiertz tied again and a deciding leg was needed. Schiertz then appeared to be on his way to the title when he left 90 after three innings, but he left six match darts unused. Geiger then hit the double 4 to claim his first-ever SDC title.