Jelle Klaasen | |||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||
Nickname | The Cobra | ||||||||||||||||||
Born | Alphen, Netherlands |
17 October 1984 ||||||||||||||||||
Home town | Goor Netherlands |
||||||||||||||||||
Darts information | |||||||||||||||||||
Playing darts since | 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||
Darts | Grand Slam Darts 'The Cobra' 23g | ||||||||||||||||||
Laterality | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||
Walk-on music | Wild Thing by The Troggs | ||||||||||||||||||
Organisation (see split in darts) | |||||||||||||||||||
BDO | 2004–2007 | ||||||||||||||||||
PDC | 2007– | ||||||||||||||||||
Current world ranking | 20 | ||||||||||||||||||
BDO majors - best performances | |||||||||||||||||||
World Ch'ship | Winner 2006 | ||||||||||||||||||
World Masters | Last 128: 2006 | ||||||||||||||||||
World Darts Trophy | Last 16: 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||
Int. Darts League | Last 16 Group: 2006 | ||||||||||||||||||
Zuiderduin Masters | Last 24 group: 2005 | ||||||||||||||||||
PDC premier events - best performances | |||||||||||||||||||
World Ch'ship | Quarter-finals: 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||
World Matchplay | Quarter-finals: 2010 | ||||||||||||||||||
World Grand Prix | Quarter-finals: 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||
Grand Slam | Quarter-finals: 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||
Premier League | 7th: 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||
Desert Classic | Last 16: 2008, 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||
European Ch'ship | Semi-finals: 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||
UK Open | Last 16: 2008, 2013 | ||||||||||||||||||
US Open/WSoD | Semi-finals: 2010 | ||||||||||||||||||
Players Ch'ship Finals | Last 16: 2010, 2013, 2014 | ||||||||||||||||||
Other tournament wins | |||||||||||||||||||
Players Championships
|
|||||||||||||||||||
Other achievements | |||||||||||||||||||
2009 - Nine dart finish at the Champions League of Darts |
Jelle Klaasen (born 17 October 1984) is a Dutch professional darts player who plays in the Professional Darts Corporation and is the youngest darts player to win the World Darts Championship. His nickname is The Cobra. He lives in Goor, Netherlands. He is an ethnic Indonesian.[citation needed]
Contents
World Championship performances
On 15 January 2006, he became the youngest World Darts Champion, aged 21 years 90 days, when he defeated fellow Dutchman Raymond van Barneveld in the final of the 2006 BDO World Championship by 7 sets to 5. He also beat Shaun Greatbatch and world number one Mervyn King on his way to the final. Before the championship, he was said to be a 100-1 outsider to win the title as he did not even have a BDO Tour ranking.
Klaasen returned to the Lakeside to defend his World title at the 2007 Championship. Klaasen was unseeded for the event after a poor run of form and was facing the seeded Co Stompé, with eventual winner Martin Adams waiting in round two should he win.
Klaasen became the sixth defending champion to fall at the first hurdle in his title defence with his first round loss to fellow countryman Stompé by three sets to nil.[1] Although Klaasen was lower in the rankings at the time, it was considered an upset as Stompé had not won at the Lakeside in the previous four years.
The day after the final it was announced that Klaasen would be defecting to the rival Professional Darts Corporation, alongside two fellow countrymen, Michael van Gerwen and Vincent van der Voort.[2] The BDO planned to take legal action as Jelle had a year left on his contract.[3]
BDO Grand Slam events
His first attempt at the Winmau World Masters in 2005 ended with a 2-3 defeat to Irishman Steve McDonald. In 2006 he was seeded 13 but suffered a straight sets defeat in his first match against fellow Dutchman Mario Robbe.
As World Champion, he was invited to the 2006 World Darts Trophy in his home country, but lost 0-3 to Tony Eccles in the first round. In 2007 he won in the first round 3-1 against reigning PDC world champion van Barneveld, shortly after that he lost in the second round to Andy Hamilton.
He also played in the 2006 International Darts League and beat 13-times World Champion Phil Taylor 7-6 in his last group match, but it was not enough to qualify for the knockout stages. He beat Andy Fordham and Dick van Dijk but lost to Adams, Greatbatch and Colin Lloyd in his other group matches.
PDC career
Klaasen did not make an immediate impact on the PDC circuit, having to start virtually from scratch at 262 in the world rankings. He competed at most of the Pro Tour events (Players Championships and UK Open Regional Finals) to improve his ranking. He reached the quarter-finals of two non-televised Pro Tour events before winning a Players Championship - the John McEvoy Gold Dart Classic in November which saw him climb to 49 in the Order of Merit. He only made it into one televised PDC event in the UK during 2007 (the UK Open where he reached the last 32) but his form towards the end of the year ensured automatic qualification for the 2008 World Championship - his debut in the PDC version. He lost in the first round to fellow Dutchman van der Voort in a sudden death leg, having missed ten darts to win the match.
He defeated Lloyd, Jan van der Rassel and Hamilton to reach the quarter finals of the 2009 PDC World Championship, only dropping one set in the process. In the quarter finals, he was beaten by van Barneveld 5-1. The match is best remembered for Barneveld hitting the first 9-dart leg in the history of the PDC World Championship.
In January 2009, Klaasen was chosen as one of the two wildcards for the 2009 Premier League Darts tournament, where he will compete against Taylor, James Wade, van Barneveld, John Part, Terry Jenkins, King and the other wildcard Wayne Mardle.
Klaasen found life hard in the Premier League, losing 5 and drawing 2 of his opening 7 matches. On 26 March, Klaasen defeated Terry Jenkins 8-6 to finally record his first victory in the competition. Klaasen finished 7th in the Premier League after Wayne Mardle withdrew from the competition. Klaasen qualified for the World Matchplay in Blackpool but lost 10-8 to Ronnie Baxter in the first round.
Klaasen lost in the first round of the 2010 World Championship losing 3-1 to Welshman Barrie Bates. He then reached the quarter finals of the 2010 World Matchplay, beating Mervyn King and Gary Anderson before losing to Simon Whitlock.
Klaasen reached the second round of the 2012 World Championship with a 3–1 win over Peter Wright, but was beaten 0–4 by James Wade in the second round.[4] His best result of 2012 was in reaching the quarter-finals of the third UK Open Qualifier in March where he lost 4–6 to Mark Jones.[5] At the UK Open itself he was defeated in the last 64 by Raymond van Barneveld 3–9.[6] After revelations emerged with regard to Klaasen's personal life detailed below he did not play again in the rest of 2012, which included missing the 2013 World Championship.[5]
2013
Klaasen returned to darts in January 2013 by qualifying for the first European Tour event of the year, the UK Darts Masters, with a 6–2 win over Carlos Rodríguez.[7] He lost to Michael van Gerwen 5–6 in the first round.[8] In May, Klaasen reached his first PDC final since November 2007 at the fourth Players Championship by beating the likes of Mervyn King and Gary Anderson. He averaged 103 in the final against Jamie Caven but lost 4–6 with his opponent averaging almost 111.[9] At the UK Open he beat Gareth Pass, Ross Smith and Stuart Kellett to reach the last 16 for the first time since 2008.[10] Klaasen played Ronnie Baxter and lost 7–9.[11] He beat Wes Newton 6–4 and Justin Pipe 10–6 to advance to the quarter-finals of the European Championship, where he was defeated 7–10 by Michael van Gerwen.[12] In the first round of the World Matchplay he came back from 3–8 down against Simon Whitlock to trail only 7–9, but lost the next leg to fall short of a successful fightback.[13] Klaasen was outplayed by Gary Anderson in the first round of the World Grand Prix as the Scotsman did not give Klaasen one dart at a leg winning double in a 2–0 in sets ten minute match. In the double-start event Anderson averaged 104.86, almost 40 points ahead of Klaasen's 67.22.[14] Klaasen knocked out number two seed Dave Chisnall 6–4 in the Players Championship Finals, before losing 9–5 to Anderson in the second round.[15]
2014
Klaasen played Jamie Caven in the first round of the 2014 World Championship and lost 3–1 as he hit just 17% of his darts at doubles.[16] At the German Darts Championship he reached the semi-finals of a European Tour event for the first time by defeating Michael van Gerwen 6–5 in the quarters. He played Justin Pipe and was denied a place in the final as Pipe took out a 134 finish in the deciding leg.[17] Klaasen was narrowly beaten 9–8 by Andy Hamilton in the third round of the UK Open.[18] At the European Championship, Klaasen knocked out reigning champion Adrian Lewis 6–4 in the first round and Caven 10–7 to reach the quarter-finals for the second year in a row, where he lost 10–5 to Mervyn King.[19] Klaasen averaged 108.74 in beating James Wade 6–4 in the first round of the Players Championship Finals, but then averaged nearly 20 points lower as he missed 22 doubles in the next round against Dean Winstanley to be beaten 10–5.[20][21]
2015
Klaasen met Gary Anderson in the second round of the 2015 World Championship after seeing off compatriot Christian Kist 3–1. Klaasen went 3–1 up and was two legs to one ahead in the next set, before Anderson took out 84 on the bull with Klaasen waiting on 89 for the match. Anderson sealed the set in the next leg and won the final two sets by three legs to one scorelines to win 4–3. Both players averaged over 100 with 20 180s thrown during the match.[22] Klaasen defeated Phil Taylor 6–2 at the fourth UK Open Qualifier to play in his first final in almost two years. However, he would miss a total of ten match darts as he slipped from 5–2 ahead of Michael van Gerwen to lose 6–5.[23] At the UK Open, Klaasen beat Brendan Dolan 9–4, before losing 9–5 to Andrew Gilding in the fourth round.[24] Klaasen recorded successive wins over Adrian Lewis, Mervyn King and Simon Whitlock to reach the final of the 12th Players Championship where, after taking the opening leg, he was beaten 6–1 by Peter Wright.[25] Klaasen reached his third final of the year at the 14th Players Championship and won his first title in nearly eight years by beating Ian White 6–2.[26] He was knocked out 10–4 by Whitlock in the first round of the World Matchplay.[27] In September, Klaasen's second title of the year came at the 16th Players Championship with a 6–4 victory over Raymond van Barneveld.[28]
Klaasen reached his first quarter-final at the World Grand Prix by eliminating Brendan Dolan 2–1 and Dave Chisnall 3–2 and faced Mark Webster.[29] The match went all the way to a deciding leg in the fifth set in which Klaasen crucially missed five opening doubles and could never catch up to lose 3–2.[30]
Other tournaments
Klaasen has won some Open events in his native country including the Alkmaar Open, but has yet to clinch a major BDO/WDF Open event. In March 2006 he was runner-up in the Finnish Open, losing in the final to Martin Atkins by 6 sets to 2. He also reached the quarter-finals of the Swiss Open and Denmark Open during 2006.
He also won the Killarney Darts Festival in 2007, where he beat Vincent van der Voort 3-2.
Recent controversy
In August 2012, Klaasen was accused of sending naked photo messages to a mentally disabled 15-year-old family friend, which he has admitted to in the Dutch press.[31]
Later that year, on the 13th of December, he was sentenced to 16 hours of community service and a fine of 400 euros, to be paid to the disabled girl.[32]
Outside darts
Before the 2006 World Championships, Klaasen worked for a manpower agency in the Netherlands but he has now taken up darts full-time. He is sponsored by Keukenconcurrent - a company that produces fitted kitchens in his home country.
World Championship results
BDO
- 2006: Winner (beat Raymond van Barneveld 7–5)
- 2007: First round (lost to Co Stompé 0–3)
PDC
- 2008: First round (lost to Vincent van der Voort 2–3)
- 2009: Quarter-finals (lost to Raymond van Barneveld 1–5)
- 2010: First round (lost to Barrie Bates 1–3)
- 2011: First round (lost to Steve Brown 1–3)
- 2012: Second round (lost to James Wade 0–4)
- 2014: First round (lost to Jamie Caven 1–3)
- 2015: Second round (lost to Gary Anderson 3–4)
Career finals
BDO major finals: 1 (1 title)
Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score[Note 1] |
Winner | 1. | 2006 | World Darts Championship | Raymond van Barneveld | 7–5 (s) |
Note
- ^ (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.
References
- ^ Champion Klaasen upset by Stompe BBC report on 1st round defeat 2007
- ^ BBC SPORT | Other Sport... | Darts | Dutch trio defect to PDC circuit
- ^ BBC SPORT | Other Sport... | Darts | Klaasen threatened over PDC move
- ^ "2012 PDC World Championship Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
- ^ a b "Jelle Klaasen 2012". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 13 January 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
- ^ "2012 UK Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
- ^ "2013 PDC UK Masters European Qualifier Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
- ^ "UK Masters - Friday Updates". PDC. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
- ^ "Brilliant Double For Caven". PDC. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
- ^ "2013 UK Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
- ^ "Speedy Services UK Open - Fifth Round". PDC. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
- ^ "partypoker.net Euro Champs QFs". PDC. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
- ^ "BetVictor World Matchplay Night One". PDC. 21 July 2013.
- ^ "partypoker.com World Grand Prix Day One". PDC. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
- ^ "2013 Players Championship Finals Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
- ^ "Ladbrokes World Championship Day Three". PDC. 15 December 2013.
- ^ "Anderson Edges Pipe For German Win". PDC. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
- ^ "Coral UK Open - Friday Evening". PDC. Retrieved 7 March 2014.
- ^ "2014 European Championship Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
- ^ "Cash Converters PCF Day One". PDC. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
- ^ "Cash Converters PCF Day Two". PDC. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
- ^ "William Hill World Championship Day Seven". PDC. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
- ^ "Mighty Mike Marches On". PDC. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
- ^ "Coral UK Open Fourth Round". PDC. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
- ^ "Peter Wright triumphant in Barnsley". PDC. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
- ^ "ProTour Joy For Klaasen In Wigan". PDC. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
- ^ "2015 World Matchplay Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
- ^ "Klaasen Edges Barney For Barnsley Win". PDC. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
- ^ "partypoker.com World Grand Prix - Tuesday". PDC. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
- ^ "partypoker.com World Grand Prix QF". PDC. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
- ^ "Darts scandal: Former world champ Klaasen's career in jeopardy over indecent photo allegations". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
- ^ "www.nu.nl". Retrieved 13 December 2012.
External links
- Jelle Klaasen's website
- Jelle Klaasen's profile and stats on Darts Database
- Lakeside tournament brochure 2006
- "Klaasen springs world title shock" BBC SPort
|