De Sousa Secures Ally Pally Return

Josa de Sousa (PDC)

JOSE DE SOUSA has won a place in the William Hill World Darts Championship after battling through a bumper field at the South & West Europe Qualifier.

The Portuguese ace had previously competed in the 2012 World Championship, losing out 4-3 to Devon Petersen in the preliminary round at Alexandra Palace.

Over 300 players competed in Avila, Spain in this year's tournament, and it was De Sousa who emerged victorious.

He took on Spain's Jesus Noguera in the final, and after taking an early 3-1 lead held on to the advantage to close out a 6-4 victory.

De Sousa dropped just one leg in the quarter-finals and semi-finals as he overcame Carlos Segura Sepulveda and Jesus Salate.

He also defeated Esteban Diaz, Sergio Garcia Ruiz, Jose Manuel Toca, Alberto Fernandez, Dani Delgado and Jose Antonio Marcelino on the day to secure his second World Championship appearance.

Former World Championship qualifiers Carlos Rodriguez, Julio Barbero and Dylan Duo were also amongst the field, while Jose Justicia - who won a PDC Tour Card this year - was a quarter-finalist.

2018/2019 William Hill World Darts Championship
South & West Europe Qualifier
Quarter-Finals

Julio Barbero 6-4 Tricole Thibault
Jesus Noguera 6-2 Javier Martin Gonzalez
Jose De Sousa 6-0 Carlos Segura Sepulveda
Jesus Salate 6-3 Jose Justicia

Semi-Finals
Jesus Noguera 6-2 Julio Barbero
Jose De Sousa 6-1 Jesus Salate

Final
Jose De Sousa 6-4 Jesus Noguera