Van Veen aiming to build upon Development Tour success

News

Gian van Veen believes his success on the Winmau Development Tour can provide the springboard for a strong end to the season on the senior PDC circuit.

Players Championships 17-18 entries and & ET11-12 seeds confirmed

ProTour

Player entries have been confirmed for this weekend's Players Championship double-header in Hildesheim, along with the 16 seeded players for ET11-12.

Red-hot Heta wins Players Championship 16 in Leicester

ProTour

Damon Heta produced a magnificent display to clinch his second ProTour title of the year, storming to an 8-4 victory against Ryan Joyce in Tuesday’s Players Championship 16 final in Leicester.

Nine-dart Humphries defies Chisnall fightback to claim PC15 title

ProTour

Luke Humphries celebrated his second ranking title in the space of nine days after defying a superb fightback from Dave Chisnall to triumph in Monday’s Players Championship 15 final in Leicester.

2023 Players Championship 15-16 entries confirmed

ProTour

Player entries have been confirmed for next week's Players Championship double-header, as the 2023 ProTour season continues in Leicester.

Seventh heaven for Heta with PC14 success in Hildesheim

ProTour

Damon Heta warmed up for Australia’s World Cup of Darts title defence with victory in Tuesday’s Players Championship 14 final in Hildesheim.

Superb Smith fightback sinks Anderson at Players Championship 13

ProTour

Michael Smith fought back brilliantly from 5-1 down to defeat his former mentor Gary Anderson and claim his first ProTour title of 2023 in Monday's Players Championship 13 final in Hildesheim.

2023 Betfred World Matchplay qualification race ahead of PC13-14

Betfred World Matchplay

The race to qualify for the 2023 Betfred World Matchplay will continue at next week’s Players Championship double-header in Hildesheim.

2023 Players Championship 13-14 entries confirmed

ProTour

Player entries have been confirmed for next week's Players Championship double-header in Germany, as the 2023 ProTour season continues in Hildesheim.

Clayton claims first Players Championship title in over two years at PC12

ProTour

Jonny Clayton won a first Players Championship title in over two years in Leicester on Sunday, defeating Josh Rock 8-5 in the final of Players Championship 12.

Peter Wright claimed his third ProTour title of 2019 by defeating Krzysztof Ratajski 8-1 in Tuesday's Players Championship 30 final in Barnsley.

Scottish ace Wright followed up Monday's record broadcast average achieved against Ratajski with another dominant display as he took the £10,000 top prize in the year's final Players Championship event.

Wright maintained that brilliant form throughout Tuesday's tournament, averaging over 104 against Ryan Searle, Steve West and Mark McGeeney in progressing to the latter stages.

He also overcame Joe Murnan and Arron Monk before taking a 7-2 semi-final win over Danny Noppert.

Wright asserted his dominance immediately in the final, leading 3-0 before legs of 11 and 12 darts moved him five clear of the Polish number one.

Ratajski hit back with a 14-darter, but Wright matched that in two of the next three legs to complete the win.

"It's been a great couple of days," said Wright. "I beat Krzysztof yesterday and today I wanted to try and beat him 8-0!

"He's a fantastic player and the past two days have been very tiring for both of us, so I'm happy to win. It was a hard day and to come through and take the title is brilliant."

Wright now sets his sights on the Paddy Power Champions League of Darts, which will be held in Leicester on Saturday and Sunday as he challenges for the title, live on BBC Sport.

"I'm looking forward to it," added Wright. "I lost to Gary [Anderson] in the final last year and he played fantastic. I beat MvG in the semis and that took it out of me.

"I approached the Champions League last year with a brand new set of darts and got to the final with them, but if I use these ones...

"The group I'm in, earlier in the season you'd say that wasn't a bad group because Daryl wasn't playing well, Gezzy wasn't and Rob wasn't quite on his game. Now, Rob's won the World Matchplay, Gezzy's playing fantastic and Daryl's not too shabby either. I'm the outsider and I'm not bad!"

Ratajski had been bidding to win a third Players Championship of the year himself, with his run to the final including some equally impressive darts as his eventual conqueror.

He averaged almost 107 in a superb 7-5 semi-final win over Gerwyn Price, missing double 18 for a nine-darter in that contest, while he took the deciding leg of his quarter-final with Jermaine Wattimena with a ten-darter.

Ratajski also averaged over 102 against Andrew Gilding and more than 96 in every match on his way to the decider, only for Wright to prove too strong.

Price landed a nine-dart finish during his run to the semi-finals, achieving perfection in the second round against Jonathan Worsley, before later averaging over 104 in a quarter-final win over Jonny Clayton.

Dutchman Noppert won through to his fourth Players Championship semi-final of the year, only to lose out to Wright.

Max Hopp recorded the day's highest average with a stunning 119.24 in his victory over Ian White, who replied with a 111 average in defeat in their last 32 contest.

Hopp, though, was subsequently knocked out by Andy Jenkins as the veteran star booked his place in the quarter-finals, while Monk, Clayton and Wattimena also reached the last eight.

Tuesday's event was the last ProTour event of 2019, with the field for the Ladbrokes Players Championship Finals and provisional qualifiers for the William Hill World Darts Championship now set to be confirmed.

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