The European Tour moves to Prague this weekend for the Czech Darts Open as we continue to move towards finalising the field for the European Championship which comes up towards the end of the year.
This is the eighth of the 13 qualifying competitions for the European Championship so those who are not yet in the top 32 in the Order of Merit are getting to the stage where they are beginning to run out of time to get in them. Luke Humphries isn’t one of those who needs to worry and he defends the title this weekend.
Recent Winners
2022 – Luke Humphries
2019 – Jamie Hughes
The Format
We have the normal format this weekend which means that the qualifiers meet each other over the course of the play on Friday before the last 32 of the tournament is played over two sessions of action on Saturday, with the last 16 on Sunday afternoon and the quarter finals on Sunday night. They are all the best-of-11 legs with the semi-finals also on Sunday evening. They are the best-of-13 and then the final in the same session is the best-of-15 legs. The draw has been pre-determined and is played in a straight knockout format.
Top Half
With the European Tour events coming thick and fast at the minute the halves have been flipped again to avoid monotony. That means we have the number two seed Dave Chisnall as the highest in the top half this weekend. Should everything go to plan and to the seeding then he would face Michael van Gerwen in the semi-final but there are a lot of darts to be thrown before that happens and the other six seeds in this half will be out to stop that from happening. They are Rob Cross, Joe Cullen, Josh Rock, Ryan Searle, Nathan Aspinall and the UK Open champion Andrew Gilding.
There are no shortage of key qualifiers in the bottom half of the draw with the Czech World Cup pairing of Adam Gawlas and Karel Sedlacek unlikely to be lacking in support from the home crowds. Ian White and Steve Beaton are a couple of veterans who will be looking to do the business this week while the Dutch pair of Richard Veenstra and Geert Nentjes could do some damage. Jamie Hughes is a former winner of this event and will be looking to get his hands back on the trophy.
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Bottom Half
The bottom half will be headed by the defending champion and number one seed Luke Humphries this weekend. He will be looking to go one further than he did in Belgium last week where he was denied by Michael van Gerwen in the final. If the draw goes to the seeding in the bottom half then Humphries will run into Damon Heta in the semi-final but the likes of Dimitri Van den Bergh, Peter Wright, Danny Noppert, Martin Schindler, Jonny Clayton and Dirk van Duijvenbode won’t lay down without a fight.
There are some big name qualifiers in the bottom half of the draw including the reigning European champion Ross Smith. Jose de Sousa is a player who is a top eight star at his very best and he is in this half of the draw as are the former Lakeside world champions Jelle Klaasen and Stephen Bunting. Callan Rydz got a late call into the draw after Gary Anderson withdrew and he could do some damage as could Kim Huybrechts, Brendan Dolan and Martijn Kleermaker.
Betting
Given where the better level qualifiers have landed in the bottom half of the draw, that section could easily open up for Dimitri Van den Bergh to do some damage where you consider that Luke Humphries might need to overcome Ross Smith in his first match while Jelle Klaasen could be waiting for Peter Wright, Stephen Bunting for Jonny Clayton and Jose de Sousa for Danny Noppert. Were the qualifier to win those matches none of them would be massive surprises.
Van Den Bergh doesn’t have anything like that to worry about so he will get the chance to work his way into the tournament and if he can settle and everything then we know he is good enough to make his way through the draw. Van den Bergh isn’t yet secured of his place at the European Championship so he is going to need a decent run somewhere along the line to make sure of his appearance in that event and with the draw the way it is this week, and big name players like Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith and Gary Anderson having the weekend off, this looks like the prime opportunity for the Belgian to pounce.
Tips
Back D.Van den Bergh to win Czech Darts Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 21.00 with William Hill (1/2 1-2)
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