VINCENT VAN DER VOORT was amongst the European Qualifiers for the Gibraltar Darts Trophy on Thursday night, while World Cup ace Dyson Parody heads the four Host Nation Qualifiers to win places in the European Tour event.
Dutch star van der Voort ended a three-year gap without a tournament victory by winning last weekend's Austrian Darts Open in Salzburg, but with the cut-off for the Gibraltar Darts Trophy coming last month found himself in Thursday' knockouts at the Victoria Stadium.
However, he came from behind to defeat Joey Ten Berge 6-5 as he headed the eight European Qualifiers who won through to the main event on Thursday, setting up a tasty first round tie with Kevin Painter.
Spain's Antonio Alcinas defeated Austria's Zoran Lerchbacher and Dutch youngster Dirk van Duijvenbode as he progressed to a first round tie with another European Qualifier, Holland's Benito van de Pas, who saw off Antonio Palma and Jelle Klaasen to qualify.
Two other young Dutch aces joined them in qualifying, with Gino Vos now progressing to play seven-time major winner James Wade and Ryan De Vreede set to kick off the first round on Friday afternoon against emerging English thrower Adam Hunt.
Belgium's Ronny Huybrechts joined brother Kim Huybrechts - one of the 16 seeded stars - in the main event as he came from 3-0 down to defeat Spanish-based Wayne Dunn 6-4.
Youngster Dimitri Van den Bergh added a third Belgian qualifier to the main event as he defeated German pair Tomas Seyler and Max Hopp with 6-2 victories to progress to a first round clash with Mark Webster.
Jyhan Artut will represent Germany in the main event, with his victory over Jordy Terburg setting up a clash with 2013 PDC Unicorn Challenge Tour star Ben Ward.
Gibraltar World Cup of Darts representative Dyson Parody headed the four Host Nation Qualifiers who secured their place in the event on Thursday night, as he dropped only one leg against Takahashi Shimidzu.
Parody will now face fellow countryman Henry Zapata in an all-Gibraltar first round battle, with his opponent having defeated George Federico - one of last year's qualifiers - 6-4 in their decider.
There was disappointment, though, for Parody's World Cup of Darts team-mate Dylan Duo, who went down 6-2 to Antony Lopez as the local policeman earned his debut in a PDC event, where he meets Northern Ireland's Daryl Gurney.
Manuel Vilerio was the other Host Nation Qualifier, with his 6-2 win over Justin Ghio earning him a clash with Dean Winstanley.
The European Qualifiers and Host Nation Qualifiers join the 20 UK Qualifiers in the first round of the £100,000 event, with the 16 winners progressing to take on the 16 seeded stars in Saturday's second round at the Victoria Stadium.
Host Nation Qualifer
Preliminary Round
George Federico 6-0 Jeremy Cruz
Justin Ghio 6-3 Kevin O'Callaghan
First Round
Henry Zapata 6-4 George Federico
Antony Lopez 6-2 Dylan Duo
Manuel Vilerio 6-2 Justin Ghio
Dyson Parody 6-1 Takahashi Shimidzu
Qualifiers
HNQ1 Henry Zapata
HNQ2 Antony Lopez
HNQ3 Manuel Vilerio
HNQ4 Dyson Parody
European Qualifier
Preliminary Round
Wayne Dunn 6-2 Stephen Hardie
Antonio Alcinas 6-3 Zoran Lerchbacher
Dirk van Diujvenbode 6-5 Salmon Renyaan
Max Hopp 6-3 Ron Meulenkamp
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-2 Tomas Seyler
Joey Ten Berge 6-4 Stefan Couwenberg
Jordy Terburg 6-0 Alvaro Molina
Richard van Zijtveld 6-5 Mareno Michels
Ryan De Vreede 6-3 Jerry Hendriks
Benito van de Pas 6-1 Antonio Palma
Gino Vos 6-4 Kevin Voornhout
First Round
Ronny Huybrechts 6-4 Wayne Dunn
Antonio Alcinas 6-2 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-2 Max Hopp
Vincent van der Voort 6-5 Joey Ten Berge
Jyhan Artut 6-4 Jordy Terburg
Ryan De Vreede 6-4 Richard van Zijtveld
Benito van de Pas 6-2 Jelle Klaasen
Gino Vos 6-4 Christian Kist
Qualifiers
EQ1 Ronny Huybrechts
EQ2 Antonio Alcinas
EQ3 Dimitri Van den Bergh
EQ4 Vincent van der Voort
EQ5 Jyhan Artut
EQ6 Ryan De Vreede
EQ7 Benito van de Pas
EQ8 Gino Vos