Nicknamed The Hammer, ANDY HAMILTON has been a strong name on the darts world stage for the past years having also been involved in major finals several times. GIANLUCA LIA spoke to the Stoke-on-Trent native about his darts career, the growth of the sport and the future generation…
After 14 years as a full-time darts player in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), regarded as the highest class in the sports pyramid, Andy Hamilton sought pastures new as he joined the British Darts Organisation (BDO).
In his own words, Hamilton wanted ‘a new challenge’ to motivate himself and continue challenging for titles in the coming years.
After participating in some major BDO tournaments, including The Welsh Open, Hamilton decided to pursue the challenge of competing in The Malta Open last year, which falls under the BDO-sanctioned tournaments as a ranking-event.
Unfortunately for him, The Hammer lost against four-time Malta Open champion John Michael, of Greece, 6-3 in the final.
However, Hamilton is hopeful that his move will see him among the elite darts players in the BDO soon.
After all, he is used to handle pressure and go head-to-head for titles.
In fact, Hamilton has reached the final of a PDC major tournaments on three occasions – in 2007 he reached the final of the Grand Slam of Darts but went down to Phil Taylor.
In 2013, Hamilton lost to Taylor again in the UK Open final.
A year before, he reached the PDC World Championship final but was beaten by Adrian Lewis.
“Reaching finals in major tournaments requires hard work, a lot of practice and a high level of focus and concentration,” Hamilton told the Times of Malta.
“Experience also plays a key part in reaching the final because it helps you to handle your nerves but it is important that at the end of the day, you enjoy the game.
“I have never imagined that this game would reach such heights, hence the players have to soak in the moment and the pressure because it is a pleasant situation to be in.”
Hamilton described darts as a ‘life-changing’ game in the way it has shaped itself today.
Besides the finals, Hamilton was involved in some memorable games including a nine-leg comeback against Simon Whitlock at the 2011 World Matchplay. No doubt, playing against some of the best names in the game has helped him to improve his playing style, but obviously, playing against Phil Taylor was something special.
“Phil Taylor has definitely shaped the game,” Hamilton, who is from the same town, Stoke-on-Trent, like Taylor, said.
“He dedicated and sacrificed a lot of his life to the game and every darts player has gained from him.”
After 16 world titles, among his 83 career crowns, Taylor was not involved in this year’s PDC World Championships after bowing out from the game in the previous edition.
Nonetheless, the tournament was still blessed by some great talent with Michael Van Gerwen securing his third world title after defeating England’s Michael Smith 7-3 in the final.
“Michael Van Gerwen is a talented player, who is very passionate as he shows through his celebrations and roars,” Hamilton described him.
“However, while Phil Taylor is a legend, I don’t really think that Van Gerwen will become one because it has to take a lot to emulate Taylor.”
Another star of the game is Raymond Van Barneveld who is at the end of his career after he announed that he will retire from the game after the 2020 Worlds.
“Ray (Van Barneveld) is another big star of the game,” Hamilton said.
“He gets so emotional during the game and that might cost him some games sometimes.
“However, he is a gifted talent, he analyses the game a lot and he is definitely one of the best.”
Meanwhile, this year’s edition of the PDC World Championships has seen the introduction of female players through qualifiers – Lisa Ashton and Anastasia Dobromyslova.
“It is a huge thing for the female game,” Hamilton said.
“It is great for them because they need more exposure and through this competition, they will prove that they belong to such stage.”
Malta Open
A new-looking Malta Open went on display this year, in its 31st year, as there was an expansion of participants whereas it was also played in a new venue.
Andre Zammit, tournament coordinator, expressed his satisfaction in describing this edition as a benchmark for the future editions.
“This year, we had 450 registrations, with a lot of high-quality players taking part,” Zammit said.
In fact, in the men’s category there were Hamilton himself, Ireland’s duo John O’Shea and Francis Carragher together with England’s Dave Parletti who is currently at the BDO World Championships.
Meanwhile, Deta Hedman, who claimed the Ladies Open, went on to feature in a PDC qualifier in MK Dons a week later but failed in her pursuit of clinching a PDC World Championships berth.
“We revamped the event by hosting it at the MonteKristo Estates which ensured a more professional approach to the organization and delivery of the competition,” Zammit added.
“Moreover, we made our registration system more accessible as we introduced online payment which makes our organisation more user-friendly.
“We hope that we continue to move in this direction in order to organize more tournaments in a professional manner.”
Zammit also added that the Disability Event at the Malta Open was a successful one and such event is crucial to engage the whole society with this game.