Kim Huybrechts completed a qualification double in Leicester, as Tour Card Holder Qualifiers took place for European Tour Events 5-6 on Wednesday. Former World Championship quarter-finalist Huybrechts won all seven of his matches at the Mattioli Arena to confirm his appearances at both the European Darts Grand Prix and Austrian Darts Open. Huybrechts – the […]
Kim Huybrechts completed a qualification double in Leicester, as Tour Card Holder Qualifiers took place for European Tour Events 5-6 on Wednesday.
Former World Championship quarter-finalist Huybrechts won all seven of his matches at the Mattioli Arena to confirm his appearances at both the European Darts Grand Prix and Austrian Darts Open.
Huybrechts – the 2015 European Darts Grand Prix winner – began his day with a last-leg victory over Jeffrey Sparidaans, before recording back-to-back 6-3 victories over Adam Lipscombe and Pascal Rupprecht respectively to seal qualification in Sindelfingen.
The 40-year-old continued his strong form into the European Tour Event Six qualifier, whitewashing Christian Kist to win his opening game of the tournament.
Huybrechts then defeated Lipscombe 6-3 once again, before beating Adam Gawlas one round later by the same scoreline.
The Belgian then capped off his brilliant day in Leicester with a 6-4 victory over Max Hopp to qualify for the European Tour in Graz.
Elsewhere in the race to qualify for the European Darts Grand Prix, Rob Cross will make his return to the circuit, as the former World Champion beat Charlie Manby 6-2 to clinch qualification, whilst Jurjen van der Velde denied Benjamin Pratnemer, beating the Slovenian 6-4.
Raymond van Barneveld will also feature in Sindelfingen, alongside Maik Kuivenhoven, as the Dutch duo both sealed 6-2 victories against Ian White and Wesley Plaisier respectively.
Keane Barry recorded a ton-plus average in his 6-4 victory over Cristo Reyes to qualify for European Tour Five, whilst Oskar Lukasiak, Madars Razma, Mickey Mansell and Jeffrey De Zwaan completed the list of qualifiers for April’s European Darts Grand Prix.
Later in the day, Reyes secured his place at the Austrian Darts Open after defeating Cor Dekker with a 97-plus average, whilst 2023 World Champion Michael Smith avenged his earlier defeat to Mansell and qualified after beating Shane McGuirk 6-5.
White made amends for his last-game defeat in the previous qualifier by winning 6-4 against Razma to qualify for European Tour Six, as Welsh duo Nick Kenny and Rob Owen secured their spots in Graz with 6-3 and 6-1 victories respectively.
Beau Greaves went close to qualifying for her first ever European Tour event, but was stopped in her tracks by former World Championship semi-finalist Gabriel Clemens.
Greaves started the stronger, as the Doncaster-born star took an early 2-1 lead in 14 and 16 darts, but the German was too strong for the 22-year-old, as Clemens rattled off five out of the next six legs to qualify for Graz.
James Hurrell’s resurgence continued, as the Englishman averaged over 110 in his 6-2 dispatching of new Tour Card Holder Adam Leek.
Chris Landman and Alan Soutar rounded out the ten names to qualify for the Austrian Darts Open, after seeing off Dekker and David Sharp respectively.
There was more European Tour disappointment for some of the big names in Leicester, as Dimitri Van den Bergh and Ricardo Pietreckzko failed to qualify for Events 5-6, with Van den Bergh still awaiting a European Tour appearance in 2026, with his last coming at the International Darts Open nearly a year ago.
European Tour events will see 16 seeds from the PDC World Rankings exempt to the last 32 for each tournament, with round one pitting the 16 ProTour qualifiers against the remaining 16 qualifiers.
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ET5 Tour Card Holder Qualifiers: Rob Cross, Jurjen van der Velde, Mickey Mansell, Jeffrey de Zwaan, Kim Huybrechts, Raymond van Barneveld, Oskar Lukasiak, Maik Kuivenhoven, Madars Razma, Keane Barry.
ET6 Tour Card Holder Qualifiers: Rob Owen, Michael Smith, James Hurrell, Ian White, Nick Kenny, Chris Landman, Cristo Reyes, Gabriel Clemens, Alan Soutar, Kim Huybrechts.