The WDF circuit is settling down this weekend in Riccione, Italy, where two WDF tournaments are scheduled for Saturday, September 14 and Sunday, September 15. On Saturday the Italian Grand Masters will be played and one day later the Italian Open will take place.
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On the men's side, over 250 players have registered for the two tournaments. The list of participants includes Brian Raman, Francois Schweyen, Liam Maendl-Lawrance, Kai Fan Leung, Moreno Blom, Alexander Merkx, Wesley Plaisier, Jimmy van Schie and Thomas Junghans.
The women's field of participants consists of several dozen players. Among them are Paula Jacklin, Irina Armstrong, Greta Tekauer, Lerena Rietbergen, Kelly Streef, Aletta Wajer and Anca Zijlstra.
Both tournaments have silver status on the WDF calendar. Players can earn points for the ranking when they reach the last 32. A place in the last 32 earns nine points. The eventual winner of a tournament with silver status receives 90 points.
Besides the WDF points, prize money can also be grabbed. In the men's event, participants receive prize money when the get through to the last 32. This result will be rewarded with 50 euros. After that, the prize money goes up quickly. The winner takes the top prize of 1,600 euros. For the women, prize money is waiting for them from the last sixteen. The winner of the ladies event secures 800 euro in prize money.
I stumbled into the world of darts quite by accident back in 2013. For a Journalism School assignment, I had to produce a live sports report and as it happened, the European Tour event in Veldhoven was the only available option. That weekend, I caught the darts bug. The post-match interviews especially appealed to me, as darts players tend to be much more open and approachable than what you usually see with footballers on television.
After a few detours, I joined Dartsnieuws.com in 2017 as editor-in-chief. I don’t have much competitive experience myself, although I once entered a PDC Development Tour weekend just to experience what it’s like from a player’s perspective. I even managed to win a leg against a Tour Card holder and, quite by accident, earned £50 in prize money.
In 2022, I was also involved in the founding of the TOTO Dart Kings, a commercial darts team, where I worked as media manager for three years. Unfortunately, due to new legislation in the Netherlands, that project came to an end in 2025.
Through my work in darts, I’ve been fortunate to travel to some incredible events, from Premier League nights at Ahoy Rotterdam, to several World Championships, and even the US Darts Masters at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Beyond darts, I’m a passionate sports fan in general. You can always wake me up for a game of tennis or padel, and I love following football, tennis, padel, cycling, Formula 1, and ice skating.