Fallon Sherrock and Kevin Painter were among the players who made it through to the Final Stage of the 2021 PDC Qualifying Schools on Wednesday, as Stage 1A concluded in Milton Keynes and Niedernhausen.
History-maker Sherrock, who became the first female player to win a match at the PDC World Championship, is chasing her first Tour Card, that would see her join Lisa Ashton on the circuit.
Meanwhile, former world finalist and Players Championship Finals winner Painter is another to have come through, as he aims to rejoin the tour. ‘The Artist’ sealed his passage through in style as one of four players to secure automatic qualification at the Marshall Arena.
Painter was a 6-4 victor over former Tour Card holder Peter Hudson in their last-eight decider, while Scottish duo Ryan Hogarth and John Imrie joined Christopher Bent as the final day’s automatic qualifiers.
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Faroe Islands-born Imrie whitewashed Sherrock 6-0 with a 103.7 average in the last match of the day, but Sherrock had already accumulated enough points to comfortably progress via the UK Stage 1A Order of Merit.
Joining Sherrock among those 36 qualifiers are Hudson, former World Youth Champion Arron Monk, New Zealander Haupai Puha and Australia’s Gordon Mathers and James Bailey – both UK and European Orders of Merit are listed below.
Wayne Warren, Wes Newton, Dean Winstanley and Deta Hedman are among the players to have missed out.
🙏 enjoyed the past 2 days – thank you to @OfficialPDC for the effort in making these events happen – hope to keep momentum for the finals stage 👍 https://t.co/WYehgqCQgc
Over in Germany, Raymond van Barneveld, whose qualification was already assured via the Order of Merit, was one of the four players to win a place in the Final Stage outright in the European event.
The Dutch legend averaged 102.1 in a 6-3 defeat of fellow-Dutchman Dennie Olde Kalter in their last-32 meeting, before overcoming Belgium’s Kenny Neyens 6-2 in his final match.
I have reached the final stage thanks for your support. Sunday we will continue to reach my goal getting my Tour card #targetdarts #Bengi pic.twitter.com/CmytIPBZWy
Highly-rated talent Nico Kurz also sealed automatic qualification, along with fellow-German Franz Roetzsch and Dutchman Jeremy van der Winkel.
A further 43 players qualified in Niedernhausen via the European Stage 1A Order of Merit, including experienced Belgian Geert de Vos, 2018 Grand Slam of Darts quarter-finalist Michael Unterbuchner and Rene Eidams.
Daniel Meyer, who finished in 44th place, may also qualify depending on whether his total is greater than the 44th-placed player on the European Stage 1B Order of Merit.
Stage 1B begins at both the UK and European Q Schools on Thursday, the first of three days of action which will once again see four automatic qualification places up for grabs at both venues.
As with Stage 1A, ranking points will be awarded to non-qualified players based on the number of match wins from the first full round onwards to form an Order of Merit from which further players will move into the Final Stage.
Tour Cards will be up for grabs at the Final Stage, which runs from Sunday to Wednesday, with 128 players competing at each venue made up of 1A and 1B qualifiers, 2020 Tour Card Holders and the highest-ranked players on the 2020 Challenge Tour Order of Merit.
Final Stage Qualifiers
UK Qualifying School
Players Exempt To Final Stage (32): Scott Baker, Michael Barnard, Barrie Bates, Richie Burnett, Gavin Carlin, Matt Clark, Robert Collins, Joe Davis, Matthew Dennant, Nathan Derry, Andrew Gilding, Adrian Gray, Rhys Griffin, Adam Huckvale, Keelan Kay, Jamie Lewis, Scott Mitchell, Joe Murnan, Richard North, David Pallett, Nathan Rafferty, Reece Robinson, Kirk Shepherd, Simon Stevenson, Dom Taylor, Scott Taylor, Robert Thornton, Conan Whitehead, Carl Wilkinson, Jim Williams, Lewis Williams, Jon Worsley
Stage 1A Automatic Qualifiers (12): Eddie Lovely, Chas Barstow, Derek Coulson, Dale Hughes, Sam Booth, Ian Mackenzie, Mike Warburton, Jason Hogg, Christopher Bent, Ryan Hogarth, John Imrie, Kevin Painter
Stage 1A Order of Merit Qualifiers (36): David Wawrzewski, Peter Hudson, John Brown, Josh McCarthy, Shane McGuirk, Kevin Thomas, Sam Cankett, Fallon Sherrock, Arron Monk, Brett Claydon, David Airey, Liam Meek, Jim McEwan, Adam Smith-Neale, Niall Culleton, Charlie Symons, Matt Jackson, Jaikob Selby-Rivas, Stephen Gallimore, Gordon Mathers, Jason Heaver, David Ladley, Nathan Girvan, Scott Williams, Kevin McDine, Haupai Puha, James Bailey, John Scott, Jack Main, Jack Vincent, Paul Mitchell, Steve Earley, Connor Scutt, Shaun McDonald, Graham Usher, Chris Quantock
Stage 1B Automatic Qualifiers (12): TBC
Stage 1B Order of Merit Qualifiers (36): TBC
European Qualifying School
Players Exempt To Final Stage (17): Toni Alcinas, Sebastian Bialecki, Christian Bunse, Jan Dekker, Kevin Doets, Marko Kantele, John Michael, Damian Mol, Geert Nentjes, Brian Raman, Rowby-John Rodriguez, Martin Schindler, Benito van de Pas, Vincent Van der Meer, Jitse Van der Wal, Maikel Verberk, Niels Zonneveld
Stage 1A Automatic Qualifiers (12): Michael Plooy, Adam Gawlas, Lorenzo Pronk, Richard Veenstra, Luksa Wenig, Davy Proosten, Boris Koltsov, Michael Rasztovits, Raymond van Barneveld, Jeremy van der Winkel, Nico Kurz, Franz Roetzsch
Stage 1A Order of Merit Qualifiers (43): Geert de Vos, Ricardo Pietreczko, Steven Noster, Remo Mandiau, Moreno Blom, Wesley Plaisier, Sven Hilling, Patrick van den Boogaard, Michael Unterbuchner, Jeroen Mioch, Jiri Brejcha, Eimardo van Engelen, Jeffrey Van Egdom, Marko Puls, Niko Springer, Dennie Olde Kalter, Kenny Neyens, El-Abbas el Amri, Mindaugas Barauskas, Pero Ljubic, Sebastian Steyer, Jens Ziegler, Chris Landman, Mario Vandenbogaerde, Rene Eidams, Stefan Taferner, Jaimy van de Weerd, Rients Visser, Michael Stoeten, Marco Obst, Philip Van Gasse, Gian van Veen, Patrik Kovacs, Andreas Toft-Jorgensen, Karsten Koch, Kai Gotthardt, Ivan Springborg-Poulsen, Artur Jaa, Gillian Koehoorn, Sven Fiedler, Roland Hol, Egor Tvorogov, Sebastian Pohl
Stage 1B Automatic Qualifiers (12): TBC
Stage 1B Order of Merit Qualifiers (43): TBC
*A 44th player will come from either Stage 1A or 1B’s final Order of Merit to complete the 128 qualifiers.
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