With videoRaymond van Barneveld was immediately eliminated in the first round of the Baltic Sea Darts Open in Kiel. Barney lost to James Wade on the first tournament of the European Tour: 3-6.
With a win, Van Barneveld would play against Peter Wright tomorrow, but it will not come to that beautiful poster. Barney threw three 180’ers, one more than The Machine, and also started well by breaking Wade directly in the first leg. However, Wade immediately managed to break the Dutchman back and in the fourth leg there was another break from Wade, who then turned into a 6-3 win and will therefore play against Wright tomorrow.
Van Barneveld was one of six Dutchmen who already took action in Kiel on Friday evening. There were only two who won: Martijn Dragt won 6-2 against Ricky Evans and will face Rob Cross tomorrow, while Richard Veenstra secured a Dutch get-together against Dirk van Duijvenbode in the second round. Veenstra beat German Florian Hempel 6-2 in Germany. Jermaine Wattimena (4-6 against Niko Springer), Niels Zonneveld (5-6 against Mario Vandenbogaerde) and Jeroen Mioch (3-6 against Ted Evetts) lost.
Tomorrow the matches will be in the second round, followed by the third round, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final on Sunday. Michael van Gerwen will face Stephen Bunting tomorrow, Van Duijvenbode will play against Veenstra and Danny Noppert will meet Keegan Brown. That trio was already automatically qualified for the second round.
European Tour
The European Tour will consist of thirteen tournaments in 2023. The Baltic Sea Darts Open in Kiel is the first tournament this weekend. The European Tour will also visit the Netherlands. The Dutch Darts Championship is scheduled in Leeuwarden from 28 to 30 April.
Darts calendar 2023
View the complete darts calendar for this year here.
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