Third German qualified for Darts World Cup
Very strong first year: Florian Hempel made it to the World Cup in the Alexandra Palace
Source: Vincent Amman / DAZN
Florian Hempel bought the ticket for the Darts World Cup. The former handball goalkeeper managed to qualify in his first year as a professional. This means that there are at least three Germans in London. Record participant Max Hopp only has a small chance.
Et was the most exciting final for the World Cup ticket that has ever existed in German darts. On April 22nd, Martin Schindler and Florian Hempel met in the final of the Super League and, in addition to the winner of the multi-day event, also determined the first German participant for the 2022 Darts World Championship.
In a nerve-wracking thriller, both players had awarded match darts, Schindler got the upper hand at 11:10 and qualified for the season highlight in London, which began on December 15th.
Drama in the Super League: Martin Schindler (left) defeated Florian Hempel, who missed two match darts
Source: Screenshot / Lutz Wöckener
Now, more than half a year later, Hempel also played for the Darts World Cup. Although the Cologne-based player suffered a 6-1 first round defeat against Australian Damon Heta at the last Players Championship tournament of the year in Barnsley, he was still able to defend his starting position, which had been consistently good in recent weeks.
Germany shock: Damon Heta won 6: 1 against Florian Hempel, then also beat Max Hopp 6: 2
Quelle: pa/Beautiful Spo/Orange Pictures
The former handball goalkeeper, who stood between the posts for Dessau in the second division, will move into the Alexandra Palace in his first year on the professional tour via the Protour ranking list. After deducting the 32 players who qualified via the world rankings, Hempel landed 26th of the 32 Protour qualifiers. Ultimately, 1,000 pounds of prize money saved him across the board.
A result that once again documents how important his performance was from the day before, when he advanced to the round of 16 and thus brought in the urgently needed prize money of 1500 pounds.
The best German in Barnsley was once again Schindler. On the final day, the Strausberger, who alongside Gabriel Clemens was the second German to qualify for the Players Championship Finals, once again reached the round of 16.
Here darts professional Martin Schindler imitates his colleagues
Martin Schindler is not only one of the best German darts professionals. He is also an excellent impersonator. Here he recreates six world-class players. Do you recognize these players?
Hempel, Schindler and Clemens as a German trio
Thanks to Hempel, Schindler and Clemens will form a German trio at the World Cup. The German number one was eliminated on Thursday like Hempel in the first round, but will be allowed to skip this in London as a seeded player in the 128-player field. Clemens, who lost 4: 6 against Nick Kenny, is currently listed in 22nd place. With the Grand Slam of Darts starting on November 13th and the Players Championship Finals two weeks later, there are still two major tournaments ahead, which can shake up the world rankings.
Max Hopp has not qualified so far, with eight world championships German record participants. The “Maximiser” is still deep in shape. At the first two tournaments that week in Barnsley he failed in the first round. After all, he reached round two on Thursday. Not enough – in the end, £ 4,000 in prize money was missing to qualify.
As in every year, this is still possible via the PDPA qualifier. However, there are a number of well-known players who want to buy their ticket to the World Cup at the last minute on November 29, including the Dutch Jeffrey de Zwaan and Jelle Klaasen, the English Adam Hunt and the Scot John Henderson.
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