Saturday at 10:00 am local time, the PDC West Europe World Championship Qualifier gets underway in Kalkar. At this tournament, one qualifying spot for the World Darts Championship at the Alexandra Palace can be earned.
The event is open to players from Andorra, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Italy, Monaco, the Netherlands, Portugal, San Marino, Spain and Switzerland, but in reality, only Dutchmen, Belgians, Germans and a few players from Switzerland have registered. PDC players who have had a PDC Tour Card for more than two years are not eligible to play in the qualifying tournament. That is why Vincent van der Voort and Jose de Sousa are missing from the list of participants.
Among the participants are fifty Dutchmen. Among others, Berry van Peer, Jurjen van der Velde, Jimmy van Schie, Danny van Trijp, Gino Vos, Jeffrey Sparidaans, Jeffrey de Zwaan, Maik Kuivenhoven, Ron Meulenkamp, Martijn Kleermaker, Jelle Klaasen, Danny Jansen, Jerry Hendriks, Jarno Bottenberg, Moreno Blom, Owen Roelofs and Jitse van der Wal are competing for World Championship qualification.
There are also 14 Belgian players on the list of participants. Andy Baetens, Robbie Knops, Ronny Huybrechts, Brian Ramen and Mario Vandenbogaerde are among the Belgian participants.
The annual qualifying tournament almost always produces a Dutch or Belgian winner. Last year was a rare exception, when Thibault Tricole ran away with the World Championship ticket. In 2012, the qualifying tournament had a Spanish winner when Carlos Rodriguez won the qualifier.
Last 64
Calvin Nicolai v Jan Dueckers
Hans Achten v Maximilian Czerwinski/Marcel Walpen
Maik Kuivenhoven v Marcus Kirchmann
Jeffrey Sparidaans/Andy Baetens v Geert Nentjes/Can Celik
Brian Raman v Maikel Verberk
Michael Kops/Mario Vandenbogaerde v Robin Bos/Davyd Venken
Vincent Kamphuis v Aaron Winter
Jef de Rooster/Martijn Dragt v Jimmy Hendriks/Abdelaziz Hammouchi
Jody Tobback v Steven Paesschesoone
Ron Meulenkamp v Arjan Konterman/Marcel Beernink
Richard Wagenaar v Viktor Gorbenko
Derk Telnekes/Silko Visser Jeffrey de Zwaan/Ziggy Schenk
Danny Jansen v Owen Roelofs
Jimmy van Schie/Fabian Herz v Jan Zagel/Henrik Weyel
Alexander Michaelczyk v Stefan Schroder
Marcel Ruiters/Patrick Geeraets v Marvin van Velzen/Stefan Dees
Martijn Kleermaker v Jarod Becker
Klaus Bohnes v Gino Vos/Joerg Faehrmann
Berry van Peer v Jelle Klaasen
Sonny Pronk/Hendrik Eggers v Ronny Huybrechts/Paul Bereths
Moritz Hilger v Jerry Hendriks
Fons Hardeman/Levy Frauenfelder v Angelo Balsamo/Jordy van den Broek
Robin Smees v Pascal Devroey
Conor Styger/Jan Schlemmer v Joshua Hermann/Jarno Bottenberg
Robbie Knops v Danny Bosch
Roy van de Griendt v Cedrik Gartz/Ulrich Jansen
Daniel Timmermann v Davy Robijns
Patrick Bulen/Remo Mandiau v Danny van Trijp/Jurjen van der Velde
Daniel Domnick v Bert de Lange
Moreno Blom v Stefan Bellmont
Frank Schoens v Patrick Link
Carsten Kupka v Dennie Olde Kalter
Ricardo Ulrich/Daan Beernink v Egor Tvorogov/Timothy Verbrugghe