Three Germans qualify for Prague
A sense of achievement: Florian Hempel qualified for the Czech Open
Quelle: picture alliance/dpa/PA Wire/John Walton
Successful day for the German dart professionals. A trio qualified for the Czech Darts Open in Prague. However, Florian Hempel could not be completely satisfied. There were two more disappointments for Max Hopp.
GJust three Germans will start at the Czech Darts Open from May 13th to 15th. With Gabriel Clemens, Martin Schindler and Florian Hempel, the currently three best in the country qualified.
Clemens won the ticket with two unchallenged victories against Scotsman William Borland (6:1) and Connor Scutt from England (6:2). The number two seeded Schindler didn’t show any weakness either against Irishman John O’Shea (6:1) and Englishman Jason Lowe (6:2).
Then Florian Hempel completed the success of the training group. After his opening win against the Englishman Ryan Joyce (6:4), who is 28 places higher in the world rankings, Hempel fought his way into the decider against Richie Burnett despite being 1:4 behind and surviving match darts and got the decisive break in 13 darts against the Welsh.
No other German at darts in Sindelfingen
An important sense of achievement after sobering weeks for the Cologne native – even if he wasn’t able to carry the momentum into the qualification for the European Darts Grand Prix that was played immediately afterwards.
While Schindler and Clemens, as the two top-ranked players from the host country, are automatically qualified for the May 20-22 event in Sindelfingen, Hempel failed to complete the trio again. Two days before his 32nd birthday he clearly lost 6-2 to O’Shea.
The qualifications were once again disappointing for Max Hopp. The 25-year-old, who needs every pound of prize money to defend his eligibility to play at the end of the season, lost 6-4 to Canadian Matt Campbell after beating Australia’s Gordon Mathers 6-3 in qualifying for Prague.
And the “Maximiser” will not be there in Sindelfingen either. The Englishman Joe Murnan gave Hopp no chance at 6:2. In the Tour Card race, the German number four has to close a gap of currently 18,250 pounds by the end of the world championship.
Ricardo Pietreczko missed the ticket to Prague after beating the Spaniard José Justicia 4:6. The race for a starting place in Sindelfingen came to an abrupt end after a 1:6 loss to Stephen Bunting.
