Big wins for Peter Wright and Dave Chisnall in Budapest; Danny Noppert also through to the last 16
PDC
Danny Noppert has advanced to the third round at the Hungarian Darts Trophy at the expense of Nathan Aspinall. 'The Freeze' won 6-4 over the former World Matchplay champion on Saturday night.
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Aspinall made his return to the darts circuit this week after being out of action for a month and a half due to an arm injury. Aspinall won 6-3 over Krzysztof Ratajski in the first round, while Noppert had a bye.
Noppert did not appear to lack match rhythm, however, as he started the match convincingly. He broke Aspinall in the first leg with a 104 finish and then doubled the lead with a 12-darter.
With a 110 finish and a 14-darter the Dutchman extended his lead to 5-1. Aspinall then fought his way back to 5-4, before Noppert ended the match with a 14-darter. In the next round Noppert will meet compatriot Gian van Veen, who won 6-4 against Keane Barry.
Peter Wright also joined the last sixteen. 'Snakebite' managed a whitewash win over Damon Heta, who posted an average of barely 88. Wright posted a 93 average, and had a 46 checkout percentage.
Things already went wrong in the first leg for Heta, who missed two chances to take the first leg. Wright did hit the double, and then took a 3-0 lead with a 16-darter and a 52 finish.
Heta again missed two doubles in leg four before Wright made it 4-0 with a 60 finish. The two-time world champion then made it 5-0 with a 19-darter, before closing beautifully with a 12-dart leg.
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Defending champion Dave Chisnall also started the tournament with a victory. The Englishman played an excellent match, winning 6-1 over Jonny Clayton thanks to an average of 101 and a checkout percentage of 46 percent.
I stumbled into the world of darts quite by accident back in 2013. For a Journalism School assignment, I had to produce a live sports report and as it happened, the European Tour event in Veldhoven was the only available option. That weekend, I caught the darts bug. The post-match interviews especially appealed to me, as darts players tend to be much more open and approachable than what you usually see with footballers on television.
After a few detours, I joined Dartsnieuws.com in 2017 as editor-in-chief. I don’t have much competitive experience myself, although I once entered a PDC Development Tour weekend just to experience what it’s like from a player’s perspective. I even managed to win a leg against a Tour Card holder and, quite by accident, earned £50 in prize money.
In 2022, I was also involved in the founding of the TOTO Dart Kings, a commercial darts team, where I worked as media manager for three years. Unfortunately, due to new legislation in the Netherlands, that project came to an end in 2025.
Through my work in darts, I’ve been fortunate to travel to some incredible events, from Premier League nights at Ahoy Rotterdam, to several World Championships, and even the US Darts Masters at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Beyond darts, I’m a passionate sports fan in general. You can always wake me up for a game of tennis or padel, and I love following football, tennis, padel, cycling, Formula 1, and ice skating.
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- I agree,I can't believe the lack of coverage of this sad loss. Always enjoyed watching him,but I guess now it's all about littler,well it seems that way. Darts has sadly lost a good manrick6717-10-2026
- In the absence of a report regarding the death of Stefan Lord, I'll assist. An excellent player in the late 70s and early 80s, he actually won the now defunct 3rd place match at two World Championships and a couple of the News of the World Championships. A fabulous player and easily the best Swedish player ever. Rest peacefully Stefan.richieburnettrocks16-10-2026
- Joking aside, it is the second most watched sport on sky (more than golf, F1 etc) behind football only, and in participation is second to only football and swimming. It doesn't get the attention or sponsorship of "bigger" sports because it's not as sexy, but it's right up there.BandB13-10-2026
- i love darts but you can't seriously believe it's the second most popular sport in the uk. even top five is pushing it. it may be the fastest growing, though.colt13-10-2026
- I'm a big Clayton fan, but he's got this completely wrong. Qualification criteria exists for a reason - so just as failing to make the top 32/64 for the Euro championships/PT Finals means you miss out, so does not lifting a title for this one.26sForFun12-10-2026
- The players who deliberately slow the game down are usually boring and win very little in the way of silverware. Horrible to watch.MrYnyslas197112-10-2026
- [“The Gentle” then used a sweeping and questionable phrase...] You anglocucks are hilariously finished in every sense of the word.Critical99911-10-2026
- I love Jonny but I disagree. The Grand Slam was always supposed to be "champion of champions" type competition. If the top 16 are guaranteed participation in everything there will be so much less jeopardy involved in qualifying and each major tournament will lose its unique flavour which the PDC has worked hard trying to develop. I enjoy following the qualification races towards the end of the year, and while consistency should have its rewards, the truth is Jonny hasn't reached a major final all year or won a single event on the Pro Tour. Being consistent is one thing, but that alone should have consequences as the sport's elite should not be prepared to accept consistently strong performances, their foremost motivation should be to win and this should be what separates them from the rest, not the consistency of their performances. Jonny is expecting that losing should be enough; it shouldn't be, at least not as far as the Grand Slam is concerned.Deduce635811-10-2026
- Well being honest,it doesn't matter what level you play at, there's always someone who slows it down to suit themselves,and extra swig of water, replacing flights, asking the ref what the score is. It happens wherever. I'm not saying it's professional,but I'm sure we've all seen it beforerick6711-10-2026
- Agree completely. Not sure how a ranking event can have a criteria not based on rankings. And he right on popularity. In the UK second only to football.BandB11-10-2026
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