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2017 German Darts Open
The 2017 German Darts Open was the third of twelve PDC European Tour events on the 2017 PDC Pro Tour. The tournament took place at Saarlandhalle, Saarbrücken, Germany, between 21–23 April 2017. It featured a field of 48 players and £135,000 in prize money, with £25,000 going to the winner. Peter Wright won the tournament by defeating Benito van de Pas 6–5 in the final. Prize money This is how the prize money is divided: Qualification and format The top 16 players from the PDC ProTour Order of Merit on 6 April automatically qualified for the event and were seeded in the second round. The remaining 32 places went to players from five qualifying events - 18 from the UK Qualifier (held in Barnsley on 7 April), eight from the West/South European Qualifier, four from the Host Nation Qualifier (both held on 20 April), one from the Nordic & Baltic Qualifier (held on 18 February) and one from the East European Qualifier (held on 26 February). The following players took part ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saarlandhalle
Saarlandhalle is a 5,500-capacity multi-purpose indoor arena located in Saarbrücken, Germany. Originally opened in 1967 with funds from Saarland Sporttoto for sports competitions, it was later converted to multi-purpose indoor arena. The Ludwigsparkstadion is located near the hall. Saarlandhalle is also the first indoor arena in (West) Germany to be organized as a limited liability company. It has hosted concerts by many famous artists, including A-ha, AC/DC, Chris de Burgh, Depeche Mode, Bob Dylan, Boney M., Metallica, Pink Floyd, Sting and Uriah Heep, among others. These days larger productions refrain from visiting it, as technical requirements have generally extended to a degree which the Saarlandhalle cannot meet any longer with its given specs. For example, since the introduction of the show's new stage set in 2001, the hall is too small to host Europe's largest televised show, Wetten, dass..?. The hall hosts the annual Hylo Open badminton tournament, and hoste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Norris (darts Player)
Alan Norris (born 21 February 1972) is a former English darts player. He was the runner-up at the 2014 BDO World Darts Championship and also lost in the final of the 2012 Zuiderduin Masters, with Stephen Bunting prevailing on both occasions. In 2015, he switched to the PDC and, after reaching the quarter-finals of the 2016 World Championship, he was named the PDC Best Newcomer of the year. BDO career Norris won the 2007 Sweden National Championships, beating Daniel Larsson in the final. He had earlier reached the semi-finals of the Finnish Open. Norris then narrowly missed out qualifying for the last 16 of the 2007 Winmau World Masters, having beaten Michael Rosenauer, Mitchell Crooks and Daniel Brouwer before losing to Jordy Terburg. A quarter-final defeat in the Swedish Open followed. Norris made his televised debut by reaching the quarter-finals of the 2008 Welsh Open, which was shown live on Setanta Sports. He defeated Martin Adams in the earlier rounds and then went on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Walsh (darts Player)
Mark Walsh (born 2 February 1965) is a former English professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments. He reached No. 6 in the PDC Order of Merit. Walsh reached his first major televised final in 2005, when he was beaten by Phil Taylor (darts player), Phil Taylor in the 2005 UK Open, UK Open. Early career Walsh made his televised debut at the 2002 World Matchplay Darts, 2002 World Matchplay but suffered a 10-0 whitewash at the hands of John Part. His World Championship debut came in 2004, but he lost 0-3 to Erik Clarys in his first match. He went out to Wayne Mardle 2-4 in 2005. He won his first match at the World Championship at his third attempt in 2006. He was seeded 12th for the event, and beat Warren Parry before losing 0-4 to Dennis Smith (darts player), Dennis Smith in the next round. Later career 2007-2010 He had slipped to 16th in the Darts world rankings, world rankings for the 2007 World Championship, when he was surprisin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nathan Aspinall
Nathan Aspinall (born 15 July 1991) is an English professional darts player currently playing in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won the 2019 UK Open with a 170 checkout in the final leg against former World Champion Rob Cross. Career Aspinall began playing in PDC Development and Challenge Tour events in 2012. His first semi-final in those came in 2013, where he lost 4–2 to Max Hopp. He won a two-year PDC Tour Card in 2015 through the Q School Order of Merit and qualified for the UK Open, where he beat Chris Dobey 5–1 and James Richardson 9–4, before losing 4–9 to James Wade in the fourth round. Aspinall's first European Tour appearance was at the Dutch Darts Masters and he squeezed past Jamie Robinson and Vincent van der Voort both 6–5. In the third round Justin Pipe eliminated him 6–4. Aspinall won the seventh Development Tour event of 2015 with a 4–2 victory over Benito van de Pas. He also lost in the final of two other events during the year ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Nicholson (darts Player)
Paul Michael Nicholson (born 10 May 1979) is an English former professional darts player who played in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He won a major event, the 2010 Players Championship Finals, where he defeated Mervyn King in the final. He was also the runner-up to Phil Taylor in the 2011 Championship League Darts, and part of the Australia team which lost a sudden death shoot-out to England in the 2012 PDC World Cup of Darts final. Nicholson also acts as a sports commentator and TV and radio pundit. He was nicknamed "The Asset", and was known for coming on to the stage with sunglasses, and was also known for his Wrestling-style walk ons, using the song "Club Foot" as his walk on music for most of his career. Nicholson had a feud with Phil Taylor during the 2011 UK Open, in which he supposedly "waved goodbye" to Taylor after beating him in a sudden death leg to reach the quarter-finals. Career 2008/2009 Before joining the PDC Pro Tour, Nicholson was o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mervyn King (darts Player)
Mervyn King (born 15 March 1966) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments. Nicknamed The King, he has reached seven PDC major TV finals and reached a peak of No. 4 in the PDC Order of Merit. Early life King first took up the game at the age of 12, playing with an old rolled-cardboard dartboard given to him by his father. His father insisted that he played darts using competition distance and height. By the age of 13, he had ambitions to become a professional player as he was playing county darts at Superleague level. His first county A game was at the age of 14 and he won his local men's singles league at that age. Additionally, King hit his first ever nine-dart leg of 501 aged 14 in a practice match with his father. BDO career King made his professional debut as a 28-year-old in the 1994 World Masters where he lost in the last 32 to Andy Fordham. His first title in the BDO came in the 1996 French Open where he bea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Richardson (darts Player)
James Richardson (born 7 January 1974) is an English professional darts player who plays in events of the World Darts Federation. He is best known for defeating five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld in the first round of the 2012 PDC World Darts Championship. Career Richardson joined the PDC Pro Tour in 2011, after winning a tour card on the first day of Q School. He reached his first Pro Tour final in Gladbeck on 23 October 2011, losing 6–2 to Colin Osborne. Richardson caused one of the biggest upsets in the history of the PDC World Championship by beating five-time World Champion, Raymond van Barneveld, 3–0 in the first round of the 2012 Championship. Van Barneveld led both the first and third sets 2–0 and had six darts at a double to win the third, but Richardson hit two 145 finishes to break Barneveld's throw in both sets. Richardson stated afterwards that the victory was "an absolute dream". He then faced Belgian Kim Huybrechts in the second round, but c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve West (darts Player)
Steve West (born 5 June 1975) is an English darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments. He is the younger brother of 2003 World Master Tony West. BDO career West showed signs of a promising career quickly by reaching the final of the 2005 French Open, losing to local Dominique le Roy. He also reached the last 32 of the 2005 World Masters where he lost to Gary Anderson. In 2007, West reached another Open final in the 2007 Dutch Open, one of the BDO's biggest Open tournaments. Amongst his scalps were Dutchmen Co Stompé and Edwin Max before losing in the final to Scott Waites. Following this and three further quarter-finals, he qualified for the 2007 International Darts League, but was knocked out at the Preliminary Group Stage. West then won his first Open title, winning the 2007 Denmark Open, beating the Netherlands' Niels de Ruiter in the semi-finals and then beat fellow Englishman James Wilson in the final. His performances earned him quali ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cristo Reyes
Cristo Reyes Torres (born 30 July 1987) is a Spanish darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career In October 2014, Reyes bested a field of 154 players to win the Iberian Qualifier for the 2015 PDC World Championship, sealing his place in the draw by whitewashing Jose Rodriguez 6–0 in the final. He entered the event in the preliminary round and comfortably beat Christian Perez 4–0. Reyes then took the first two sets against Wes Newton, before the world number 13 responded to level the tie. Both players broke each other's throw in the deciding set, with the match going in to a sudden death leg. Reyes' first dart hit the outer bull as in a sudden death leg both players throw a dart at the bull to decide who throws first. However, the referee did not realise this and Reyes was made to continue the leg until the refereeing team stepped in to restart it after both players had thrown six darts. Reyes again hit the outer bull to throw first and won ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Bunting
Stephen Bunting (born 9 April 1985) is an English professional darts player who competes in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Nicknamed The Bullet, Bunting won the 2014 BDO World Darts Championship and is a twice former World Masters champion. Darts career Beginnings Bunting won both the British Teenage Open and the World Youth Masters in 2001 and also captured the WDF Europe Youth Cup in 2002. He made his BDO World Darts Championship debut in 2004 aged 18, where he beat Vincent van der Voort in the first round before losing in the second round to former World Champion Ted Hankey. He returned to Lakeside in 2005 but was beaten in the first round by John Henderson. In 2008 Bunting won the Lytham St Annes Open and was also recalled to the England squad. In July 2008 he reached the quarter-finals of the BDO British Classic where he lost to Scotland's Ross Montgomery live on Setanta. In November 2008 Bunting captured his maiden BDO ranked open title when he won ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Smith (darts Player)
Michael Smith (born 18 September 1990) is an English professional darts player. Nicknamed "Bully Boy", he plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is the reigning World Champion and World No. 1, having won the 2023 World Championship. He was the 2013 PDC Under-21 World Champion and has since won 17 titles on the PDC Pro Tour. He won his first PDC major title at the 2022 Grand Slam of Darts, having previously been a runner-up at the World Championship (2019 and 2022), the Premier League (2018), the World Matchplay (2019), the European Championship (2022), the UK Open (2022), The Masters (2020) and the World Series Finals (2018). Early life Smith attended Saint Cuthbert's High School in St Helens. When he was 15 he fell off his bike on the way to school breaking his hip, which required him to use crutches for 16 weeks. During that period, Smith threw his first 180 whilst on crutches. After leaving school, he took a joinery course at college, but he de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jelle Klaasen
Jelle Klaasen (born 17 October 1984), nicknamed The Cobra, is a Dutch professional darts player who plays in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and World Darts Federation (WDF) events. In 2006, he became the youngest darts player to win the World Darts Championship, aged 21 at the time. He also is a Dutch Open champion. Since November 2022, he has been the leader of the World Darts Federation men's ranking. Beginnings of his career His first attempt at the international stage was a 2005 Winmau World Masters ended with a 2–3 defeat to Irishman Steve McDonald. On 15 January 2006, Klaasen became the youngest World Darts Champion, aged 21 years 90 days, when he defeated fellow Dutchman Raymond van Barneveld in the final of the 2006 BDO World Championship by 7 sets to 5. He also beat Shaun Greatbatch and world number one Mervyn King on his way to the final. Before the championship, he was said to be a 100–1 outsider to win the title as he did not even have a BDO Ranking ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |