Jan Dekker

Jan Dekker (born 25 June 1990) is a Dutch darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation events.^[1]

Career

Dekker qualified for the televised stages of the 2010 Winmau World Masters. He played eventual champion Martin Adams in the last 16, and was beaten 2-3 after Adams won a sudden-death leg.

He also qualified for the 2011 BDO World Darts Championship. He defeated 15th seed Scott Mitchell 3-0 in the first round, and 2nd seed Stuart Kellett 4-1 in the second round. He then beat tenth seed Garry Thompson 5-4 in the quarter-finals, having trailed 3-0 and 4-2 and seeing Thompson miss nine darts at doubles to win the match himself. He faced Dean Winstanley in the semi-final and lost 6-2.

Dekker was the sixth seed for the 2012 BDO World Darts Championship, where he lost 2-3 in the first round against compatriot and eventual champion Christian Kist despite averaging over 96. The following year, Dekker was seeded seventh and this time reached the quarter-finals, surviving a match dart in the first round against Jeffrey de Graaf, then edging Thompson once more in the second round this time 4-3 having trailed 3-2. In the quarters, Dekker led Richie George 3-1 but eventually lost 5-4.

In 2014, Dekker was seeded sixth and faced a fellow Dutch player in the first round for the third year in a row, this time defeating Benito van de Pas 3-0. He then beat Geert De Vos 4-2 and followed this with his first ever professional victory over three-time world champion Martin Adams, winning 5-2. In the semi-finals Dekker led Alan Norris 4-2 and had two darts to take a 5-4 lead, but eventually lost 6-5.

At the 2015 event, Dekker was knocked out in the first round, losing 3-1 to Martin Adams.

PDC

Following his first round exit, Dekker announced his intention to switch to the Professional Darts Corporation.^[2] Dekker was knocked out in the last 32 on two of the four days played which was not enough to earn a PDC tour card. However, he had entry into all UK Open and European Tour qualifiers during the year ahead as well as the Challenge Tour.^[3] Dekker qualified for the second round of the UK Open and defeated Mike de Decker 5–3, Justin Pipe 9–5 and Ronnie Baxter 9–4 to reach the fifth round.^[4] He faced Mensur Suljović and was beaten 9–7.^[5] In April Dekker qualified for his first European Tour event, the German Darts Masters. In the first round he was beaten 6–2 by fellow Dutchman Benito van de Pas.^[6] During the year Dekker won three Challenge Tour events which saw him finish top of the Order of Merit and take a two-year tour card from 2016.^[7]

In Dekker's PDC World Championship debut he was beaten 3–0 by two-time winner Adrian Lewis.^[8] He lost 6–5 to Andrew Davidson in the opening round of the 2016 UK Open.^[9] Dekker reached the third round of the European Darts Open by defeating John Henderson 6–4 and Dave Chisnall 6–3, but was thrashed 6–0 by Gary Anderson.^[10] Dekker will make his debut in the Players Championship Finals after being placed 54th on the Order of Merit and will play James Wilson in the first round.^[11]

World Championship results

BDO

• 2011: Semi-finals (lost to Dean Winstanley 2–6)
• 2012: First round (lost to Christian Kist 2–3)
• 2013: Quarter-finals (lost to Richie George 4–5)
• 2014: Semi-finals (lost to Alan Norris 5–6)
• 2015: First round (lost to Martin Adams 1–3)

PDC

• 2016: First round (lost to Adrian Lewis 0–3)

Personal life

Outside of darts, Jan Dekker was a student in the Netherlands, studying business and economics, he graduated in 2012.

References

External links

• Player profile on Jan Dekker from Dartsdatabase
• Website (Dutch)