Hempel dumps out defending champion Wright, De Sousa edges past debutant Williams

Peter Wright will not defend his European Championship title this weekend after being dumped out in the opening round of a TV tournament for the second time in a row.

Wright lost in the opening round of the World Grand Prix and now it is Florian Hempel, the German debutant who has accounted for him in a dream opening tie winning 6-3 in the end.

Hempel got on with his task immediately claiming first blood against Wright with a 97 checkout and after he doubled his lead to break at 2-0, Wright's change of darts didn't look to be working.

His troubles continued as Hempel surged into a 4-1 lead at the break. A change of darts once more did the trick though for Wright who capitalised on missed darts to make it 5-1 from Hempel.

'Snakebite' kept Hempel from the finishing line momentarily as he pinned double five to trail 6-3.

Wright missed the chance to keep himself in the tie and Hempel pinned double 10 to move through.

While Jose de Sousa before that did just enough to get the job done against Lewy Williams with the Welsh prospect not able to mark his debut with a win going down 6-3.

De Sousa wasn't at his best early on in the tie but did just enough going 3-2 up before holding to make it 4-2 with a first 180 and an 84 checkout.

He produced a second 180 to go 5-3 up despite only having 27% on the doubles and despite Williams holding with De Sousa ready to claim the win, it was merely a consolation as 'The Special One' himself edged through.

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