INTERVIEW – Labanauskas reflects on rise after reaching top 50 in PDC Order of Merit: “I was not expecting to be in such a high position”

Darius Labanauskas is a player who has been firmly on the rise since he joined the PDC in 2018 where after competing in the PDC World Championship defeating Raymond van Barneveld, he then claimed a Tour Card at 2019 PDC European Q-School.

Since then he has gone on to reach the top 50 in only just over a year on the tour with that massively helped by an under the radar run at the 2020 PDC World Championship where he reached the Quarter-Finals losing out to Michael van Gerwen.

‘Lucky D’ caught up with DartsNews during the Coronavirus break and gave his thoughts on his season so far up to this point including a change to his equipment which he believes he is seeing the rewards from.

“I am happy with the start of the new season. I have had better results after 8 events than I had last year, also I have qualified for the 3rd Euro Tour (last year I qualified for the 5th). After 8 years playing with slim shape flights I moved to different shape flights and after long hours of practice I can now say that this decision was good – my results are getting better. It was also very nice to be nominated for PDC Best Newcomer,” said Labanauskas to DartsNews.com.

He also reflected on that run at the World Championship and he said that as good as it was, he is looking forward now to hopefully further progress.

“Looking back to the last World Championship - it was a great event and I am very happy with my results. When the new season started, I was not thinking about this event anymore because I have to earn new points and qualify for new major events.”

Thoughts on Coronavirus and next goals

For Labanauskas now it is about continuing to practice and after reaching the top 50 despite not expecting to so soon, he has some further goals in mind and he also spoke about the Nordic Darts Masters which has since be rescheduled but he will still make his World Series debut next year.

“It is hard to predict when the season will be restarted. Now I train averagely, and I think getting back to the best form will not be hard.”

“I was not expecting to be in such a high position - it was first year in PDC, and my goal was to stay among the top 64 - this will guarantee next season without Q-School.”

“Next goal is to reach top 32. I would like to get back to the World Championship, Players Championship Finals and PDC World Cup of Darts. Also, I would like to take part in PDC Grand Slam of Darts - last year I was very close – I lost 5-3 in final qualification round. Also, I am included into Nordic Darts Masters in Denmark as a local player – it will be an interesting event.”