Van Duivenbode's Tour Card Joy

Mike van Duivenbode (PDC)

MIKE VAN DUIVENBODE made it a Dutch Double at the 2019 European Qualifying School by winning a PDC Tour Card on Day Two in Hildesheim on Friday.

The two-time PDC Unicorn Development Tour event winner celebrated his 20th birthday in style to follow another 20-year-old Dutchman, Niels Zonneveld, in securing full-time status on the PDC circuit.

Dordrecht's Van Duivenbode impressed throughout the day at Halle 39, with Dutch youngsters Levy Frauenfelder and Justin van Tergouw joined by Greek World Cup representative Veniamin Symeonidis in being early victims.

He also defeated Nigel van Milligen and Gergely Lakatos before whitewashing Dragutin Horvat with a 100 average in the quarter-finals.

Van Duivenbode then overcame experienced Finnish ace Marko Kantele in the semi-finals and battled back from 4-2 down in the final against Latvia's Madars Razma.

Having taken the final to a deciding leg, Van Duivenbode opened with scores of 180 and 140 to be first to a finish before taking out 80 to secure his Tour Card.

"My day was unbelievable," said Van Duivenbode. "I felt so good - it's my birthday and I dreamed last night that I won my Tour Card today and I did it. I'm so happy.

"I was 4-2 down [in the final], and you think you've already lost but you must never give up. I played my game as I threw all day and I won."

Razma's performance will stand him in good stead for the remaining two days of the European Qualifying School and puts him in a strong position to win a Tour Card from the final Order of Merit.

The Latvian ace, who held a Tour Card in 2017-2018, defeated Manfred Bilderl, Michael Rosenauer, Thomas Kohnlein, Ingo Vogt and Gabriel Rollo in the early rounds.

He then defeated recent William Hill World Darts Championship qualifiers Yordi Meeuwisse and Jeff Smith to reach the decider, only to agonisingly fall just short of reclaiming his Tour Card.

Razma currently sits top of the European Qualifying School Order of Merit on ten points, ahead of Kantele (eight points) and the pairing of Austria's Michael Rasztovits and Hungary's Gergely Lakatos (seven points).

Saturday sees Day Three of the European Qualifying School take place in Hildesheim, where the winner will secure a PDC Tour Card.

See full results at the DartConnect website using the DCTV link.

2019 PDC European Qualifying School
Day Two, Friday January 4
Last 16
Marko Kantele 5-3 Danny Van Trijp
Karel Sedlacek 5-3 Vincent Van der Meer
Dragutin Horvat 5-2 Michael Rasztovits
Mike van Duivenbode 5-1 Gergely Lakatos
Mike De Decker 5-1 Pavel Jirkal
Jeff Smith 5-3 Pero Ljubic
Madars Razma 5-3 Gabriel Rollo
Yordi Meeuwisse 5-2 Maik Kuivenhoven

Quarter-Finals
Marko Kantele 5-3 Karel Sedlacek
Mike van Duivenbode 5-0 Dragutin Horvat
Jeff Smith 5-3 Mike De Decker
Madars Razma 5-2 Yordi Meeuwisse

Semi-Finals
Mike van Duivenbode 5-3 Marko Kantele
Madars Razma 5-3 Jeff Smith

Final
Mike van Duivenbode 5-4 Madars Razma

2019 PDC European Qualifying School Order of Merit
Following Day Two

Position Name Nationality Points
1 Madars Razma LAT 10
2 Marko Kantele FIN 8
3 Michael Rasztovits AUT 7
3 Gergely Lakatos HUN 7
5 Christian Goedl AUT 6
5 Nico Schlund  DEU 6
5 Hannes Schnier AUT 6
5 John Michael GRC 6
5 Mike De Decker BEL 6
5 Karel Sedlacek CZE 6
11 Geert De Vos BEL 5
11 Sebastian Steyer POL 5
11 Maik Kuivenhoven NLD 5
11 Dragutin Horvat DEU 5
11 Vincent Van der Meer NLD 5
11 Jeff Smith CAN 5
17 Michele Turetta ITA 4
17 Davyd Venken BEL 4
17 Jose De Sousa PRT 4
17 Ryan De Vreede  NLD 4
17 Danny Van Trijp NLD 4
17 Yordi Meeuwisse NLD 4
23 Darius Labanauskus LTU 3
23 Ricardo Pietreczko DEU 3
23 Petros Christodoulou CYP 3
23 Roxy James Rodriguez AUT 3
23 Lukas Wenig DEU 3
23 Niels-Joergen Hansen DNK 3
23 Pavel Jirkal CZE 3
23 Gabriel Rollo ITA 3
23 Pero Ljubic  HRV 3
32 Bernd Roith DEU 2
32 Christian  Kallinger AUT 2
32 Marvin Wehder DEU 2
32 Maik Langendorf DEU 2
32 Wesley Plaisier NLD 2
32 Erik Tautfest DEU 2
32 Danny Van Klompenburg NLD 2
32 Kevin Munch DEU 2
32 Armando Slotboom NLD 2
32 Cody Harris NZL 2
32 Wilco Vermeulen NLD 2
32 Justin van Tergouw NLD 2
32 Andy  Baetens  BEL 2
32 Patrick van Osch NLD 2
32 Jeremy Jendrzejewski  DEU 2
32 Jyhan Artut DEU 2
32 Wesley Bour NLD 2
32 Radek Szaganski POL 2
32 Andrea Micheletti ITA 2
32 Steffen Siepmann DEU 2
32 Nigel van Milligen NLD 2
32 Stefan Bellmont CHE 2
32 Boris Koltsov RUS 2
32 Ingo Vogt DEU 2
32 Thibault Tricole FRA 2
32 Lukasz Sawicki POL 2
32 James Bailey AUS 2
59 Felix Losan AUT 1
59 Co Stompé NLD 1
59 Fabian Herz DEU 1
59 Nico Mandl AUT 1
59 Michael Rosenauer DEU 1
59 Carlo van Cleef NLD 1
59 Patrick van den Boogaard NLD 1
59 Erwin Renkema NLD 1
59 Hendrik Eggermann DEU 1
59 Pauli Finnila FIN 1
59 Robert Allenstein DEU 1
59 Andreas Flamme DEU 1
59 Nico Blum DEU 1
59 Joe Slivan USA 1
59 Juraj Vindiš SVK 1
59 Lyuben Dimitrov BGR 1
59 Gerrit Schuur NLD 1
59 Kevin Blomme BEL 1
59 Christian Bunse DEU 1
59 Christoff Van De Wal BEL 1
59 Aegir Bjornsson ISL 1
59 Stefaan Deprez BEL 1
59 Rene Eidams DEU 1
59 Michael Kiebel  DEU 1
59 Lukasz Waclawski POL 1
59 Thomas Köhnlein DEU 1
59 Pascal Wirotius DEU 1
59 Markandu Garunakumar LKA 1
59 Robin Beger DEU 1
59 Andreas Harrysson SWE 1
59 Gino Drobick DEU 1
59 Francesco  Raschini  ITA 1
59 Simeon Heinz DEU 1
59 Kobus Vriezen NLD 1
59 Alexander Tauber DEU 1
59 Sandro  Wyss CHE 1