The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsThe twenty qualifiers who booked their places in Germany for the sixth European Tour event of 2015 in May will be joined by eight European qualifiers and five home nation qualifiers instead of the usual four following the withdrawal of Keegan Brown will join them in the race for a second round tie against one of the sixteen seeds.
Afternoon Session:
The European Darts Open in Germany will be kicked off by Kevin McDine taking on Daryl Gurney, who both booked their places here in the UK qualifiers just under two months ago. Both players will be looking to make it through to Saturday, and they both need a good run to get something going this year.
Mark Webster will be desperate to put the heartbreak of missing out on the World Matchplay behind him as he was pipped to the post by Kyle Anderson. He faces Stuart Kellett in the first round of the competition.
Eddie Dootson hadn’t made a huge impression on any events to be honest this year, but maybe this will be his time as he aims to improve on the last European Tour event where he was eliminated in the first round. He faces European qualifier number four.
Johnny Haines will be looking to build on his last sixteen at the Players Championship as he was edged out of the competition in a last-leg shootout. He will come up against the fourth home nation qualifier.
Despite winning a couple of games on the Challenge Tour, Barrie Bates hasn’t won a game in the ProTour events since the beginning of May, but can he put this poor run behind him to beat the first European qualifier.
The fifth European qualifier will face off with the third European qualifier in the penultimate match of the night. Wes Newton is looking to rediscover his top form, and he will have to beat Gerwyn Price if he wants to make it through to the second round on Saturday.
Evening Session:
Alan Norris made the last sixteen in Wigan on the ProTour last weekend, and he will be looking to show the same kind of form when he plays the ‘Pieman’ Andy Smith in the first match of the evening session.
The second European qualifier and the fifth European qualifier will face each other in the first round while ‘The Rockstar’ Joe Cullen will have to get past the fifth Home Nation qualifier if he wants to make it through to Saturday.
Both John Henderson and Andrew Gilding will be competing next week at the BetVictor World Matchplay in Blackpool and will be keen to have a good run here to send out a message to the rest of the field in the lead-up to the tournament.
Nathan Aspinall has been in good form of late, and won a recent Development Tour event just a couple of weeks ago, following up from a last sixteen finish in the Dutch Masters on the European Tour. His first round opponent will be Devon Petersen.
Stephen Bunting has yet to establish himself in the seeds, so once again the Premier League player will have to come through the first round, and also has to qualify just to get here. He will play the second Home Nation qualifier.
In the penultimate match of the evening, the sixth and the seventh European qualifiers will play each other, and Jamie Lewis rounds off the evening’s action when he plays the first Home Nation qualifier.
For more news and opinions on Darts please follow us on Twitter @TheSportLowdown
