Van Barneveld secures PDC Tour Card with comeback completed at European Q-School

Raymond van Barneveld will return to the PDC Tour this season just over a year after he decided to initially retire from competitive darts.

This comes after he assured himself of securing his Tour Card on the final day of European Q-School with a victory over Willem Mandigers in the Last 32 completing the feat.

The 53-year-old five time World Champion started his comeback last week in Niedernhausen where he eased through to the Final Stage of Q-School.

After two days, he was in an excellent position after reaching the Last 16 and semi-final diminishing any doubts that he could still play at the highest level.

But on Tuesday, he became unstuck against Stefan Bellmont and watched as the likes of John Michael and Luc Peters gained ground with runs to the latter stages.

One point though would bring the doyen of Dutch darts towards safety and after seeing off Daniel Meyer, he dealt with Benito van de Pas 6-4.

This meant that Van de Pas would not return to the tour and Barney brought himself towards doing so.

He completed the feat like alluded to from there seeing off Mandigers 6-0 and as a result heads to eight points joining Martin Schindler and Boris Koltsov currently who have also confirmed their spots.

It is not over though for Van Barneveld though who could still win outright today and claim his Tour Card that way freeing up a position in the Order of Merit for another player to come through.