Tour Card Holder Qualifiers for European Tour Events 1-2 took place on Wednesday, as Spanish star Cristo Reyes completed a qualification double in Hildesheim. Wednesday’s double-header at Halle 39 saw a field of over 90 players competing in the respective European Tour qualifiers, which produced ten players per event. The inaugural Poland Darts Open (ET1) […]
Tour Card Holder Qualifiers for European Tour Events 1-2 took place on Wednesday, as Spanish star Cristo Reyes completed a qualification double in Hildesheim.
Wednesday’s double-header at Halle 39 saw a field of over 90 players competing in the respective European Tour qualifiers, which produced ten players per event.
The inaugural Poland Darts Open (ET1) will be held in Krakow from February 20-22, while the European Darts Trophy (ET2) takes place in Gottingen from March 13-15.
Reyes was the solitary star to complete the qualification double in Hildesheim, winning six consecutive matches across the afternoon.
The 38-year-old kicked off proceedings with a sensational 6-4 success against Rob Cross, averaging almost 107 and defying a nine-darter from Cross in the opening leg of the contest.
Reyes then defeated Tom Sykes and Richard Veenstra to seal his spot in Poland, before following up a 6-2 victory over Alan Soutar with successive whitewash wins against Viktor Tingstrom and Maik Kuivenhoven to complete the clean sweep.
Former European Champion Ritchie Edhouse also headlined the list of ET1 Qualifiers alongside Connor Scutt, who averaged 102.5 to edge out rising star Charlie Manby in a dramatic decider.
Swedish number one Jeffrey de Graaf also advanced, and he was joined by Darryl Pilgrim, as well as former televised semi-finalists Adam Gawlas and Mickey Mansell.
Thomas Lovely overturned a 5-2 deficit in the final round of qualification to deny Sebastian Bialecki a return to home soil, while the field of ten qualifiers was completed by European Tour debutants Marvin Kraft and Carl Sneyd.
Despite his earlier heartbreak, Bialecki responded superbly to confirm his place in next month’s European Darts Trophy, registering a hat-trick of 6-1 victories to storm through the ET2 Qualifier.
Dutch trio Veenstra, Kevin Doets and Jeffrey de Zwaan also tasted success, with De Zwaan dumping out Raymond van Barneveld, Beau Greaves and Mensur Suljovic in the process.
Germany’s Kai Gotthardt posted a ton-plus average to deny Cam Crabtree and book his place in Gottingen, as Mario Vandenbogaerde also averaged over a ton to defeat Keane Barry in their winner-takes-all clash.
Elsewhere, Shane McGuirk will make his European Tour debut after fending off a brave fightback from Wesley Plaisier in the final round of ET2 qualification, with Grand Slam quarter-finalist Ricky Evans and Lithuania’s Darius Labanauskas completing the line-up.
However, there was disappointment for a number of big-name stars in Hildesheim, with Peter Wright, Dimitri Van den Bergh, Van Barneveld and Greaves losing out in both qualifiers.
Cross’ nine-dart heroics were not enough to progress through the ET1 Qualifier, although he will feature in Gottingen after being confirmed as one of the pre-qualified ProTour representatives last week.
Michael Smith, meanwhile, succumbed to Mansell in the final round of qualification for the Poland Darts Open, while he opted not to compete in the ET2 qualifier later in the afternoon.
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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ET1 Tour Card Holder Qualifiers: Cristo Reyes, Connor Scutt, Ritchie Edhouse, Adam Gawlas, Mickey Mansell, Darryl Pilgrim, Jeffrey de Graaf, Thomas Lovely, Marvin Kraft, Carl Sneyd.
ET2 Tour Card Holder Qualifiers: Mario Vandenbogaerde, Cristo Reyes, Darius Labanauskas, Kai Gotthardt, Jeffrey de Zwaan, Shane McGuirk, Kevin Doets, Richard Veenstra, Ricky Evans, Sebastian Bialecki.