Ted Evetts and Florian Preis marched to Winmau Challenge Tour glory on Saturday, claiming Events Eight and Nine respectively in Leicester. The Mattioli Arena played host to another double-header of darting action, as a whopping 304-player field tussled for silverware and the £3,000 top prize per event. Evetts claimed his fourth career Challenge Tour title […]
Ted Evetts and Florian Preis marched to Winmau Challenge Tour glory on Saturday, claiming Events Eight and Nine respectively in Leicester.
The Mattioli Arena played host to another double-header of darting action, as a whopping 304-player field tussled for silverware and the £3,000 top prize per event.
Evetts claimed his fourth career Challenge Tour title in winning Event Eight on Saturday afternoon, seeing past Aden Kirk 5-4 in a dramatic deciding-leg final.
The former World Youth Champion initially stormed to a 4-1 lead, but Kirk rallied, including a 13-dart leg to level the contest at 4-4.
Kirk – who had an incredible run to the last 16 of the UK Open as an amateur qualifier in 2014 – then got down to a finish in 12 darts, but missed three match darts before Evetts checked out with his last dart in hand to claim his first Challenge Tour title of 2026.
Evetts won an impressive nine games straight to claim Event Eight and recorded just two averages below 90 in the process, beginning with victories over English trio Nathan Potter, Steve Haggerty and Robbie Martin.
The 28-year-old then saw off Jamai van den Herik before whitewashing Jake Jones, followed up with a triumph over Northern Irishman Colin McCaughern to reach the quarter-finals.
Evetts – a former European Tour quarter-finalist – produced his best performance of the day to squeeze past Jack Aldridge 5-4, averaging just shy of 103 to reach the semi-final.
The Englishman edged past Event Six winner Derek Coulson in another gripping last-leg decider to reach the final, where Evetts dramatically scooped the title.
Preis then claimed the first Challenge Tour title of his career in Event Nine, also seeing past Kirk in a deciding-leg shootout in the final.
The German led 4-2 in the showpiece, but Kirk once again threatened a comeback, taking out a huge 142 checkout to take the match to 4-4.
In similar fashion to Event Eight’s final, Kirk was first to a finish but squandered multiple match darts, allowing the talented teenager to check out with his final dart in hand to exacerbate the agony for Kirk.
Preis’ landmark campaign kicked off with a deciding-leg win against Jamie Kay, before seeing off Event Four winner Martijn Dragt and World Championship star David Davies.
The 18-year-old then accounted for Jamie Howard Hughes and McCaughern – dispatching the latter in another last-leg decider – before demolishing Challenge Tour leader Joe Hunt 5-1 with a 95+ average.
Another 5-1 win followed against Lewis Pride in the semi-finals, as Preis went on to down Kirk and break new ground at the Mattioli Arena.
Despite Kirk missing multiple match darts in the final of Events Eight and Nine, the 34-year-old had a strong day in Leicester, recording a remarkable 14 wins on Saturday to climb up to third on the rankings.
This includes a ton-plus average to start the day in his 5-1 triumph over Pal Szekely and a stellar 104.18 average in blitzing Maikel Verberk to reach the quarter-final of Event Eight.
Kirk won last-leg deciders against Welsh duo Coulson and Llew Bevan in the semi-finals of Events Eight and Nine respectively, but he could not repeat such feats against Evetts and Preis in the finals.
Ron Meulenkamp put in the performance of the day, recording a whopping average of 108.22 to down Lee Evans 5-1 during round three of Event Nine.
Hunt remains top of the Challenge Tour rankings, closely followed by Coulson in second, with Kirk, Tommy Lishman and Daniel Klose rounding out the top five.
The second weekend of Challenge Tour action will conclude at the Mattioli Arena on Sunday, as Event Ten takes place for non-PDC Tour Card Holders who competed at 2026 Qualifying Schools.
The top two players from the final 2026 Challenge Tour Rankings will secure a PDC Tour Card for 2027/28, with the top three players earning qualification for the 2026/27 Paddy Power World Darts Championship.
Click here to view the Event Draw & Results.
Live match stats from all events can be followed through DartConnect.
2026 Winmau Challenge Tour
March 28, Mattioli Arena, Leicester
Event Eight
Quarter-Finals
Derek Coulson 5-0 Bruno Stoeckli
Ted Evetts 5-4 Jack Aldridge
Aden Kirk 5-4 Matthew Dennant
Graham Usher 5-4 Michele Turetta
Semi-Finals
Ted Evetts 5-4 Derek Coulson
Aden Kirk 5-4 Graham Usher
Final
Ted Evetts 5-4 Aden Kirk
Event Nine
Quarter-Finals
Llew Bevan 5-4 Danny Trueman
Aden Kirk 5-1 James Beeton
Lewis Pride 5-4 Steve Haggerty
Florian Preis 5-1 Joe Hunt
Semi-Finals
Florian Preis 5-1 Lewis Pride
Aden Kirk 5-4 Llew Bevan
Final
Florian Preis 5-4 Aden Kirk