FOUR different players won events on a thrilling and competitive opening weekend of Foundation Tour action in Coventry.
To underline the unpredictable and exciting nature of the Foundation Tour in 2025, 22 different players reached quarter-finals in the opening four events.
Arthur Allston, Jake Hobbs, Hayden Ball and Kaleb Gascoyne were the four event winners who made an excellent start to the tour, as this year’s crop of players set out on their journey to emulate 2024 winner Mitchell Lawrie.
Allston is leading the rankings after the opening four events having also reached a semi-final and quarter-final, with Ethan Baines and Mattie Ambage in close pursuit.
EVENT 1
Arthur Allston was the first Foundation Tour winner of the season after beating Archie Chippendale 5-1 in the final.
The 15-year-old Englishman from Suffolk was superb throughout the event, winning four of his first five matches 3-0, before producing an 80-plus average in the last 16 to win 3-2 against Jake Hobbs, who also averaged north of 80.
Allston was a 4-1 semi-final winner against Alfie Cook, before beating Chippendale 5-1 in the final – producing a 13-dart break clinch the title.
Chippendale produced an excellent run to reach the final, winning both his quarter-final against Craig Murtagh and his semi-final against Sidney Lloyd without dropping a leg.
Results:
Final:
Arthur Allston (Eng) 5-1 Archie Chippendale (Eng)
Semi-final:
Arthur Allston (Eng) 4-1 Alfie Cook (Eng)
Archie Chippendale (Eng) 4-0 Sidney Lloyd (Eng)
EVENT 2
Jake Hobbs was a deserving winner of Event 2 as he beat Ethan Baines 5-1 in the final, having reached the quarters in the opening event earlier in the day.
The 15-year-old Englishman from Farnham saved his best performance of the event for the semi-final, as he avenged his quarter-final loss from Event 1 with a stunning 4-0 win against Allston.
Hobbs averaged 89.73 in a composed and confident performance, sealing the win and his place in the final with a 100 checkout.
In the final itself, he lost the opening leg against Baines but was unaffected by the setback and reeled off five legs in succession to clinch the title.
Baines produced some fine darts himself en route to the final, notably in a 3-0 win over Jack Steer in the last 32, where he averaged 86.71 , wrapping up the win with a 12-darter which he sealed with a 138 checkout.
Results:
Final:
Jake Hobbs (Eng) 5-1 Ethan Baines (Eng)
Semi-final:
Jake Hobbs (Eng) 4-0 Arthur Allston (Eng)
Ethan Baines (Eng) 4-1 Jenson Macey (Eng)
EVENT 3
Hayden Ball clinched the Event 3 title after emerging from a nine-leg thriller against Ethan Pulham in the final.
The 17-year-old Englishman from Staffordshire beat his opponent from Gibraltar 5-4 to secure the event win – having led 4-0 at one point.
He raced into a dominant lead and looked set to wrap up a rapid victory – but Pulham won four legs on the spin to force a decider, only for Ball to regather himself when it mattered and hit double 16 for the win. It was a fitting finale to a superb event, with both players producing some excellent darts on their way to the final.
Results:
Final:
Hayden Ball (Eng) 5-4 Ethan Pulham (Gib)
Semi-finals:
Hayden Ball (Eng) 4-1 Mattie Ambage (Eng)
Ethan Pulham (Gib) 4-2 Alfie Cook (Eng)
EVENT 4
Kaleb Gascoyne was the fourth and final player to taste event victory on an excellent weekend of Foundation Tour action as he beat Joshua Gregory 5-3 on Sunday evening.
Again underlining the competitiveness of the tour, the 14-year-old Englishman from Chesterfield had not got past the last 32 in any of the earlier three events in the weekend.
But he peaked when it mattered, taking out 72 to clinch victory in the Event 4 final, having earlier beaten Mattie Ambage 4-3 in a thrilling semi-final.
Ambage – who was one of the most consistent performers all weekend, without winning an event – led 3-1 before Gascoyne won three on the spin, including a stunning 116 checkout to seal the win with Ambage waiting on tops.
The Foundation Tour returns on the weekend of March 29-30 for another sold-out weekend of darting action, following a sell-out this weekend.
Results:
Final:
Kaleb Gascoyne (Eng) 5-3 Joshua Gregory (Eng)
Semi-final:
Kaleb Gascoyne (Eng) 4-3 Mattie Ambage (Eng)
Joshua Gregory (Eng) 4-1 Dillon Moran (Eng)
Leaderboard after four events:
Arthur Allston (Eng) – 14 points
Ethan Baines (Eng) – 11 points
Mattie Ambage (Eng) – 11 points
Jake Hobbs (Eng) – 10 points
Ethan Pulham (Gib) – 10 points
Alfie Cook (Eng) – 10 points
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