Dave Chisnall and Ross Smith have advanced to the final at the European Darts Open in Leverkusen. They will decide later on Sunday evening who takes the title at the eighth Euro Tour tournament of the season.
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Chisnall made quick work of Damon Heta. 'Chizzy' won the first five legs of his match against the Australian after hitting a 12-dart leg during this spell. Heta had to wait until the sixth leg to get on the scoreboard with a 15-darter.
His English opponent immediately dashed his hopes of a comeback with a 15-darter for 6-1. Chisnall then immediately ended the match with a 12-darter in the eighth leg.
For Chisnall, it is already his fourteenth Euro Tour final. Of the previous 13, six were won. Chisnall has a total of 23 ranking titles to his name in his career.
So against Smith, Chisnall gets the chance to add a 24th title. Ross Smith was too strong for Michael Smith in the second semi-final, after 'Bullyboy' came awfully close to force a decider after a huge deficit.
Ross Smith had taken a comfortable 6-2 lead earlier in the match. Michael Smith fought his way back to 6-5, but missed one chance on tops to force a final leg. Ross Smith then narrowly secured victory by hitting the double 10 with his last dart.
Smith reached the final of the Belgian Darts Open earlier this year, but had to leave the victory to Gary Anderson. Smudger' has yet to win a Euro Tour title, but has three Pro Tours and the European Championship on his record.
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The European Darts Open is one of the longest running Euro Tour tournaments. The first edition was played back in 2012, when it was won by Raymond van Barneveld. Michael van Gerwen is the record winner of this tournament with five titles. In 2023, this event was won by Gerwyn Price, who beat Dirk van Duijvenbode 8-7 in a thrilling final.
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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- Need to see her take part in the womens tour. She'll break the inernet.medinabello08-09-2026
- If he can be bothered? He won't play darts in Germany yet he'll go over and get an award!??rick6702-09-2026
- Why is this the main story? He chose not to compete in loads of tournaments,yes he's number 1 in the world,but he does have to turn up at tournaments! Play the next world championship in Dortmund and see if he turns up!!rick6727-08-2026
- This is exactly what I mean,littler survives the 1st round,I think you'll find a lot of other players did. Can you just report on the real sport,and not just 1 person. I like Luke,but this is getting boring now,as Kevin painter once said to Taylor!! The sport is about every player,not 1 who everyone seems to have put the sport on the map.,which he hasn't,he's just got in when the money is massive. Great as he is,it seems like what's the point in anyone trying,he's going to win everything,unless it's in Germany or Australia!!!rick6726-08-2026
- I mean look, Littler's picture is first,wattimena is second and he won! Level it up. I know littler is fantastic,but the sport was here before him,and will be when he's retired. Any player in the top 64/128 can beat each other,it's not big news. Poor Jermaine,wins it,and not even the headline!!rick6726-08-2026
- I appreciate that littler is a fantastic player,but the top 3 articles are about him. Before he'd thrown a dart in the tournament. Level it out a bit, Taylor and van gerwen soon got disliked as the media could only see them,and nobody else seemed to matterrick6725-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
- I'd happily pay for a site free of Van der Voort's every squeak and utterance.StraightArrowNoBull19-08-2026
- I think you miss the point. It is just a poll if you are willing to pay for an ad-free site. The content stays free.SheGotLegs16-08-2026
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