Brian Raman managed to qualify for the 2024 Flanders Darts Trophy through the Host Nation Qualifier last Thursday. In the first round though, he lost 6-4 to Jermaine Wattimena. It was a busy weekend for the 27-year-old Belgian, who also played in two WDF tournaments.
Raman did far from terribly with a 93.88 average, but came up against a terrific Wattimena who threw a 102.16 average. "Still, I enjoyed it," Raman said to the 'Double Top' podcast. "I was born and raised in Antwerp, so it's great to be able to play a big tournament in my own city."
"But I'm going to have a talk with Jermaine anyway, I don't think it's possible that he just played such a great match against me," laughed Raman. "Before this match I still had a profit margin of well above 50% on the European Tour, now that has dropped a bit and Jermaine is the cause of that."
Raman had a PDC Tour Card in 2022 and 2023, but lost it late last year. Early this year, he immediately tried to regain that Tour Card at Q-School, but surgery prevented him from having all his strength. Raman has since been active again on the WDF Tour (where he was number one for a while in 2021) and is not thinking of returning to Q-School for the time being."
"As long as I don't manage to throw 90 average at a consistent level, I can't do anything there," Raman said.
By the way, after his elimination at the Flanders Darts Trophy, Raman immediately traveled on to England, where he was in action last weekend at the England Masters (9th) and England Classic (quarterfinals), two tournaments that are part of the WDF Tour. Raman still hopes to qualify for the WDF World Championship in early December.