Darts World Grand Prix
Qualification for the Ally Pally – who has to worry about the Darts World Cup
As of: 09:08 a.m. | Reading time: 4 minutes
Everyone wants to go there: The Darts World Cup is already sold out on all days. The participants are still unclear
Quelle: picture alliance/dpa/PA Wire/Zac Goodwin
With the World Grand Prix, darts enters the hot phase of the season. At the end, the PDC World Championship awaits in December. Seven Germans could make it to Alexandra Palace. Some big names are threatened with extinction. An overview.
Two and a half months left and then it starts again. The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) Darts World Championship begins in London on December 15th. And like every year, the highlight of the year is preceded by several important tournaments. Five of the seven major tournaments relevant to the rankings are played in the last quarter of the year.
It starts with the World Grand Prix in Leicester. The tournament started on October 2nd. This is followed by the European Darts Championship (October 26th to 29th), the Grand Slam of Darts (November 11th to 19th) and the Players Championship Finals (November 24th to 26th), before the World Cup is on the agenda . The four majors in particular are still about important ranking prize money for the Darts World Cup. With the Players Championships 25 to 30 and the German Darts Championship, there are seven more events on the schedule, where for many players it is about qualifying for Alexandra Palace or even continuing their professional careers. After the World Cup, only the 64 best players in the Order of Merit will be eligible to play for the coming season.
For Florian Hempel, one thing is connected to the other. The 33-year-old, who caused the biggest surprise of the 2022 World Cup with his victory over Dimitri van den Bergh two years ago, must qualify for London in order to keep the tour card. With the 7,500 pounds in prize money that just participating in the World Cup brings, he would slip above the line in the prize money-based Order of Merit and also play on the PDC tour in 2024.
For Hempel, the path to the World Championships leads via the Pro Tour. The best 32 players who have not yet qualified through the Order of Merit will receive one of the 96 Ally Pally tickets. Hempel is currently 36th, but only 500 pounds behind England’s Ritchie Edhouse in 32nd place.
King and van der Voort are facing something new
Hempel would be the fifth German to take part in the climax in London. Gabriel Clemens and Martin Schindler, who are also fighting for the title of German number one at the World Cup, have already been seeded for the second round due to their ranking position. Ricardo Pietreczko is also sure to be there via the Pro Tour Order of Merit. In addition, there is the winner of the German Super League, which will be played from November 7th to 10th. Over four days, 24 German players will fight for a ticket to Alexandra Palace in Bitburg, including Max Hopp, Dragutin Horvat, Niko Springer, Nico Kurz, Rene Eidams and Lukas Wenig.
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So four Germans are definitely there. But who else is coming? In addition to Hempel, this year’s two tour debutants Daniel Klose and Pascal Rupprecht can also hope to qualify for the Pro Tour. Both are only 2,000 pounds apart from 32nd place in the Pro Tour rankings.
In addition to the inexperienced Germans, there are also some veterans still fighting for their World Cup ticket. As things stand, Mervyn King wouldn’t be there. The 57-year-old had taken part in a World Cup every year since 1997. First with the British Darts Organization (BDO), since 2008 with the PDC. Vincent van der Voort is also an old friend who is in danger of missing the tournament for the first time after 16 participations. Also not yet qualified are e-darts legend Boris Krcmar, the two-time World Cup quarter-finalist Darius Labanauskas and Alan Soutar, Clemens’ opponent in the round of 16 last year.
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Also missing is two-time world champion Adrien Lewis, who has at least temporarily retired from his sport. And the Austrian camp is threatened with a real disaster in December: Mensur Suljovic as well as Rowby-John and Rusty-Jake Rodriguez are all outside the qualifying ranks so far.
Peter Wright is qualified, but is under particular pressure at this World Cup. Since his £500,000 title win from January 2022 is no longer counted in the world rankings based on the results of the past two years, he could no longer appear in the top 10 for the first time since 2011. James Wade and Gary Anderson are at risk of falling out of the top 32.
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