Jose De Sousa makes history at Players Championship 23 in Barnsley
Jose De Sousa made history by becoming the first Portuguese winner of a PDC Occasion in Players Championship 23 in Barnsley on Tuesday.
De Sousa, who won a PDC Tour Card in January, produced a string of impressive shows to achieve his next ProTour closing in 3 months.
There, the Darts Open quarter-finalist outplayed world number seven Gerwyn Price to claim a gorgeous triumph that was 8-1 .
“That is a fantasy for meI am so, so very happy,” said a psychological De Sousa. “I’ve struggled for 25 years to come here and at last I can accomplish this. Prove I can play like these and it is amazing for me to play against the top players on earth.
“That is an incentive for me to continue my work and I believe I could beat everyone if I will still continue to play this way.”
De Sousa’s day began with a 102.5 average at a 6-4 triumph over Nathan Rafferty, before victories within Steve Beaton, Ryan Meikle and John Henderson followed.
The claimed a leg triumph over Jermaine Wattimena, which he followed up with a victory over Peter Wright in the semi-finals.
A one-sided final saw De Sousa typical 95.7 into Price’s 84.8, as the Welshman fought to find the form he saw him beat Rob Cross, Adrian Lewis and Glen Durrant sooner in the afternoon.
The # 10,000 top prize enhances De Sousa’s hopes of a World Grand Prix debut in October, as the young German attained his ProTour quarter-final in 11 weeks while it was a substantial day for Martin Schindler.
It is not very long to wait till darts goes back on Sky Sports, the World Grand Prix gets underway Sunday, October 6 at Dublin’s Citywest Arena October 12, and seven times of policy continues until the closing on Saturday.