22-year-old German became biggest surprise at Q-School: ''I want to take advantage of this opportunity and gain as much experience as possible''

The big surprise at the Q-School 2023 was Pascal Rupprecht. The 22-year-old German was one of the Tour Card winners at the event in Kalkar.

Rupprecht's success came out of nowhere. He had previously never competed in a PDC tournament and, moreover, had only been playing darts for two years. Speaking to PDC Europe, Rupprecht told his story after gaining his Tour Card.

"It's really incredible. It feels really fantastic and I can't really believe it myself yet. I'm really happy with what I was able to show. I'm a bit speechless. I honestly didn't have high expectations by myself. I was a bit lucky that I met the stronger opponents at the right time each time.''

Rupprecht, who regularly recorded an average of 95 or more, had thus never participated in a PDC tournament prior to the Q-School. Therefore, he told a bit more about himself.

''I think I started about two years ago,'' the Bielefeld-based dart player said. ''I always played a lot at home, liked to watch TV, but never went to tournaments because I didn't know which tournaments were in Germany. Then I discovered the existence of the Q-School in last April.''

Rupprecht played some regional tournaments, participated in the Sapphire Trophy 2022, where he lost to Wesley Plaisier in the round of 16. At a tournament in Roßtal, he first reached the quarter-finals and at another tournament he even reached the semi-finals. "I really wanted to keep playing, I always went to a few tournaments and could celebrate a few successes. It went really well last year, I'm very happy."

Now that he has a Tour Card, he is entitled to play on the Pro Tour and he wants to make the most of that opportunity. "I will definitely try to play as much as possible. I don't know exactly how it will all work out in terms of time yet, but I definitely want to take advantage of the opportunity and gain as much experience as possible."