Moreno Giovanni Blom (born 24 October 2001) is a Dutch professional darts player who currently plays in World Darts Federation (WDF) and Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is a Hungarian Classic Champion.
| Moreno Blom | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||||||
| Full name | Moreno Giovanni Blom | ||||||
| Nickname | "MB" | ||||||
| Born | 24 October 2001 Mijdrecht, Netherlands | ||||||
| Home town | Vinkeveen, Netherlands | ||||||
| Darts information | |||||||
| Playing darts since | 2015 | ||||||
| Laterality | Left-handed | ||||||
| Organisation (see split in darts) | |||||||
| PDC | 2020– | ||||||
| WDF | 2022– | ||||||
| Current world ranking | (WDF) 28  9 (14 November 2023)[1](PDC) 155  (31 October 2024)[2] | ||||||
| WDF major events – best performances | |||||||
| World Ch'ship | Last 32: 2023 | ||||||
| World Masters | Group Stages: 2022 | ||||||
| Dutch Open | Last 256: 2022 | ||||||
| Other tournament wins | |||||||
| |||||||
Career
editBlom was fourteen when he started his adventure with darts. During the first period of his career, he played only in local tournaments. As part of the local team, he plays with Jermaine Wattimena. In 2020, he took part in international PDC Development Tour tournaments for the first time. In late September, he threw the nine-dart finish during the second round match against Brian Raman.[3] He competed in the 2020 PDC World Youth Championship. In the Group Stage, he beat his fellowmen Levy Frauenfelder and Maikel Verberk, and advanced to second round. He defeated Joshua Richardson in the knockout phase match and finally lost to Jeffrey de Zwaan in the third round.[4]
After the season ended, he participated in online tournaments where he was once caught during cheating. In the next season, he took part in the PDC Challenge Tour and PDC Development Tour tournaments several times, but without success.[5] No qualifications for the PDC World Youth Championship made Blom change his career strategy and switch to playing in the World Darts Federation (WDF) tournaments. Already at the beginning of 2022, during the Slovak Masters, he was advanced to the final of the tournament, but lost to Neil Duff by 2–5 in legs.[6] He took part in the 2022 Dutch Open in June, but was eliminated in the fourth round despite being seeded.
At the end of October, he won Hungarian Classic. This is his first international tournament won. He defeated Benjamin Pratnemer in the final by 5–3 in legs.[7] By this achievement, he securing debut in the 2023 WDF World Darts Championship and qualified for the 2022 Winmau World Masters.
Controversies
editIn December 2020, Blom was caught cheating during an online darts tournament. Footage showed that Blom threw a dart in the board after having a bounce out with the same dart earlier; he also submitted incorrect scores during the match. Blom admitted the allegations afterwards. The tournament organizer decided to have Blom removed from the tournament and disqualified for every next tournament of that platform. This situation did not entail any additional consequences.[8]
World Championship results
editWDF
edit- 2023: Second round (lost to Neil Duff 1–3)
Performance timeline
edit| Tournament | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WDF Ranked televised events | |||||
| World Championship | DNQ | NH | DNQ | 2R | |
| World Masters | NH | ||||
| Dutch Open | DNP | NH | 4R | ||
| PDC Non-ranked televised events | |||||
| World Youth Championship | 3R | DNQ | |||
References
edit- ^ "WDF Men's Rankings Table". WDF. 14 November 2023. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
- ^ "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 31 October 2024. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
- ^ "Barry and Evetts secure Development Tour titles as 18-year-old Blom hits nine-darter". dartsplanet.tv. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
- ^ "Brooks & Davis reach Unicorn World Youth Championship final". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
- ^ "Campbell doubles up in Niedernhausen". dartsworld.co.uk. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
- ^ "Moreno Blom is runner-up op Slovak Masters 2022". dartfreakz.nl. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
- ^ "Hungarian Classic Men 2022". World Darts Federation. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
- ^ "Dutch darts talent caught on cheating during online darts tournament". dartsnews.com. Retrieved 7 November 2022.