European Q-School Stage 1B review

With the Stage 1B of the PDC European Q-School having come to an end I think it’s time to write a review on the first three days of PDC Q-School action in Niedernhausen, Germany. This time I focus on the players from outside the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. My review of Stage 1A of the PDC European Q-School can be found.

For the players from the Netherlands and Belgium, I wrote comprehensive reports on Dartfreakz.nl among which this one in Dutch, while on Dutch Darts day reports in English can be found. A comprehensive report about the German players can be found on Modern German Arrows.

For this report I’ve divided Europe in Central Europe (Austria, Switzerland, France & Luxembourg), Southern Europe (Italy, Portugal, Spain & Greece), Northern Europe (Denmark, Finland & Sweden), Eastern Europe (Czech Republic)

Central Europe

Photo: Lawrence Lustig, PDC
Austria is quite well-represented this PDC European Q-School. Rowby-John Rodriguez was already qualified for the Final Stage, since he had a PDC-tourcard in 2020. After Phase 1A he was joined by Michael Rasztovits. Thursday former PDC-tourcard holder Zoran Lerchbacher and Rusty-Jake Rodriguez, the younger brother of Rowby-John, qualified themselves for the Final Stage. Lerchbacher did so by beating among others Robert Marijanovic & Arjan Konterman, while Rusty-Jake Rodriguez was too strong for Michal Smejda from the Czech Republic & Belgian Patrick Bulen. Patrick Tringler took the last spot by ending 43rd on the PDC European Q-School Stage 1B Order of Merit. He surprised on Thursday by beating Thibault Tricole 6-4 before bowing down against fellow Austrian Zoran Lerchbacher.
Stefan Bellmont and Thomas Junghans are still in the contest to become the first PDC-tourcard holder from Switzerland. Both qualified for the Final Stage via the PDC European Q-School Order of Merit ending 11th and 39th respectively. Bellmont recovered well from a 6-0 first round defeat against Thibault Tricole on Thursday by reaching the last 16 on both Friday and Saturday. He did so by beating among others Dutch talent Owen Roelofs and lost against Canadian Matt Campbell and German Stefan Nilles, who went on to reach the last four on the final day of Stage 1B. Junghans’ best result was reaching the last 32 on Friday averaging 90,3 in his last 64 win, while he suffered last 64 exits himself on the other two days.

From France there are also two players through to the Final Stage. Eric Boyer and Thibault Tricole were among the 43 Order of Merit qualifiers. Boyer ended 33rd thanks to reaching the last 32 on Saturday, where he lost 6-2 against Sergio Krassen, who has an Italian mother but is based in the Netherlands and having both nationalities. Tricole made it hard for himself after he was so busy practising on Friday that he registered too late, despite playing only two days the French Touch did exactly enough to reach the Final Stage by reaching the last 32 on Saturday where he lost 6-3 against Canadian Matt Campbell as he is the number 35 on the PDC Q-School Stage 1B Order of Merit.
Steve Wollener, the number 36th of the PDC Q-School Stage 1B Order of Merit, is the only player from Luxembourg, who qualified for the Final Stage. He did so by reaching the last 32 on Friday.

Southern Europe
Both two Italian players made it to the Final Stage, which shows darts is growing in Italy. Daniele Petri made it to the last 8 on Friday after beating among others Luc Peters, who was the highest player in the NDB men A ranking season 2019/2020, before bowing down 6-3 against former PDC-tourcard holder José Justicia. Petri ended 13th on the PDC Q-School Stage 1B Order of Merit. On Thursday he didn’t do bad either by beating Thomas Junghans before losing 6-2 against Belgian Patrick Bulen. Sergio Krassen, who is based in the Netherlands, but is registered as Italian, since he has that nationality as well thanks to his mother being Italian. Krassen reached the last 32 on Thursday before making it to the last 8 on the Saturday by beating among others Portuguese Joaquim Goncalves, French Eric Boyer and Michal Smejda from Czech Republic. Krassen was the number 14 of the PDC Q-School Stage 1B Order of Merit. For more about Italian darts I would refer to DartsItaly on Twitter or the Italian Facebookpage Diddle for the Middle.

Photo: RTL7Darts
Now I will make a side step to the UK Q-School, where Portuguese José Marquês made an impression on Thursday. He hit a 9-dart leg in the last 16 before making it to the top 4 which meant he was immediately qualified for the Final Stage.
Spanish José Justicia will join Toni Alcinas in the Final Stage after he had made it to the last four on Friday by beating among others former PDC-tourcard holder Jimmy Hendriks and Italian Daniele Petri.
Greek Veniamin Symeonidis will join fellow Greek John Michael. He ended 32nd in the PDC European Q-School Stage 1B Order of Merit thanks to reaching the last 32 on Friday where he lost 6-4 against Christian Kist.

Northern Europe
Just as in Stage 1A two Danish players qualified for the Final Stage, Michael Seemann and Claus Bendix Nielsen. Seemann was quite consistent and reached the last 32 twice, while making it to the last 16 on Saturday by beating among others former PDC-tourcard holder Jimmy Hendriks. This meant he was the number 15 of the PDC Q-School Stage 1B Order of Merit. Claus Bendix Nielsen made it to the last 32 on Thursday, where he lost 6-4 against Gary Mawson. This was enough to be the number 31st of the PDC Q-School Stage 1B Order of Merit.
Veijo Viinikka will join fellow Finnish player Marko Kantele. Viinikka was the number 20 of the PDC Q-School Stage 1B Order of Merit. He made it to the last 16, where he lost 6-1 against Florian Hempel, on Friday before he reached the last 32 on Saturday.
Johan Engstrom is still in the run to join fellow Swede Daniel Larsson on the PDC-tour coming year. He is the number 27 of the PDC Q-School Stage 1B Order of Merit. Engstrom reached the last 32 on Friday and Saturday beating among others Robert Marijanovic.

Eastern Europe
Michal Smejda and Karel Papezik made it theoretically to the Final Stage, where they could join Adam Gawlas in their try to join Karel Sedlacek on the PDC Pro Tour. Saturday was the best day for Smejda. He reached the last 16 after he already reached the last 32 on Thursday, which meant he was the number 16 of the PDC Q-School Stage 1B Order of Merit.