Ted Hankey goes Dutch for latest BDO run
Telford's Ted Hankey went Dutch for the BDO's latest run of non-televised 'floor' events as his quest to get to the top of the organisation continues.
The two-time world champion travelled to Holland for the third annual staging of two ranking tournaments,
The winner of the second event, Lithuanian Darius Labanauskas, also won a place at December's Finder Masters in Zuiderduin.
These competitions were held elsewhere in the country, at the Evenementenhal in Venray, with 'the Count' in action over two days.
First he competed in the HAL Masters, where got busy and reached a board final only to be edged out in the last leg.
Placed into Group 10 with a bye first up, he whitewashed Marco Custers 4-0 before making it a Dutch double with a 4-3 defeat of Davy van der Zande.
He then eased past fellow Englishman Tony West by 4-0 to landslide before the group decider with Holland's Willem Mandigers, who prevailed 4-3 to go through to the last 16.
He then returned to the same venue to be involved in the HAL Open, again enjoying a bye past the first round in Group 10 before he was called to the oche.
The Netherlands' own Dennis van den Berg opposed but Hankey rolled over him 4-1, then going out to another Dutchman in Roy Gokoel 4-3 at the last 128 stage.
Nonetheless, the 48-year-old from Aqueduct did some building on his quarter-final and board final run in the Isle of Man Classic and Open respectively the previous weekend.
Hankey has also reached the semi-final of the Scottish Open since Lakeside in January, where he came into the worlds as a qualifier for the first time since 1999.
