Ricardo Pietreczko powers past 'Goldfinger' to keep German hopes alive at European Championship in Dortmund

The rabid German crowd in Dortmund will still have someone to cheer on Sunday as the 2024 European Championship reaches a conclusion. The last remaining German, Ricardo Pietreczko has powered past Andrew Gilding to reach the quarter-finals with a 10-3 victory.

Gilding had provided a surprise victory over Luke Littler in the first round, Pietreczko meanwhile, also had impressed by beating Damon Heta 6-5. In this one though, whilst both players were a noted level below their first round displays, it was 'Pikachu' who got the better of the exchange.

Laying down a marker early, Pietreczko dominated the opening exchanges, racing into a 5-0 lead in the opening session. As mentioned previously though, the standard was hardly setting the world alight with the German reeling off legs of 19, 18, 16, 15 and 18 in the opening session.

As such, the match was still somewhat delicately poised despite the scoreline, with either playing feeling a spurt of top quality darts could turn the match in their favour. Gilding threatened such a spurt, fighting back into things in the second session to get back to 3-7 behind.

There was no epic comeback from the conqueror of Luke Littler however and Gilding's run was comprehensively ended by Pietreczko, who reeled off the last three legs without reply for the 10-3 win and a quarterfinal showdown against Danny Noppert tomorrow night.

The tournament will be broadcast fully live on ITV. The daily evening sessions are at 6 p.m., while the afternoon sessions start at 11:45am. on Saturday and Sunday.

The first round will be completed on Thursday, Oct. 24, and Friday, Oct. 25. The 16 winners of the first round will compete for a spot among the final eight on Saturday, Oct. 26. The quarterfinals will be on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 27, followed by the semifinals and finals in the evening.