DARTS: A Corke-ing display leaves Tom smiling (From Wiltshire Times)

DARTS: A Corke-ing display leaves Tom smiling

3:30pm Friday 22nd March 2013 in Sport News By Dan Barnes

MELKSHAM teenager Tom Corke says that his confidence has been given a hefty boost after he received some major praise from German number one Tomas Seyler.

The 14-year-old, who lives in Bowerhill and is a pupil at Melksham Oak School, was pitted against Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) player Seyler in an exhibition match in Bristol last week.

Corke played a single leg (from 701) against the 38-year-old German pro and was sitting on 50 as he lost on a tense double.

The Melksham youngster is a member of the Bristol-based Steve Brown Darts Academy and says he is more determined than ever to succeed in darts after impressing Seyler with his arrows.

“Playing against someone like that was an amazing experience,” said Corke.

“In the warm-up, I managed to hit 180 and straight afterwards, I got 100.

“He looked at that and said that he was going to be in trouble.

“He was much harder to play against than anyone else I’ve played before and he got a lot bigger scores.

“But after the game, he said that it had been a challenging game and for a professional to say that to me is brilliant.

“It’s given me a boost and made me want to play the same way I did against him when I play other people my age.”

This Sunday, Corke will compete in the final of the Steve Brown Academy’s ‘super 16’ tournament.

“In the last few years that I’ve done it, I was a bit nervous because it was a new thing for me,” said Corke, who finished as runner-up last year.

“But I’m not like that any more and I just look forward to the matches and trying to play well.”

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