German Darts Masters
Photo: Carlsten Aarlt/PDC Europe
The darting season started again on 31st January and it
returned with a vengeance in the form of the German Darts
Championships in Hildesheim. This year saw a change in the
format of the European Tour which saw the traditional field of
64 reduced to 48, so only the best will be qualifying for the
events.
First Round
The first round was contested between the UK qualifiers, European
qualifiers and home nation qualifiers. The blue torch paper was lit
by Swedish stalwart Magnus Caris who faced young Dubliner, Glenn
Spearing and it was the latter who was victorious 6-5 in a deciding leg.
Next on stage was an all Dutch affair between crowd favourite and
five time world champion Raymond Van Barneveld and former Lakeside
competitor Ron Meulenkamp. The tie turned out to be comfortable for
Van Barneveld as he won 6-1, setting him in good stead for the rest of
the weekend. There was further Dutch delight as Jelle Klaasen won 6-0
over Marc Dewsbury and the hot prospect Dirk Van Duijvenbode had too
much for the experienced Brian Woods as he won 6-3.
This was followed by arguably the performance of the first round from
four time major finalist Ronnie Baxter against the teenage Belgian
Dmitri Van Den Bergh. Baxter averaged 105 in a game that saw him take
out three ton plus finishes of 121, 124 and 140 in a 6-2 win, however
young Van Den Bergh made a performance of note with a 102 average
“It’s been a long
time coming but
I’m delighted”
Gary Anderson