European Tour qualification day in Hildesheim, and if waffles and Toblerone are your thing, these are two events you really want to get into.
First up, ten spots and a trip to Belgium were up for grabs, with places at September’s Flanders Darts Trophy dangling enticingly in front of the field. And everyone who made the cut has already performed on the European Tour this season (or is at least scheduled to).
None more so than Cristo Reyes who, when it comes to these qualifiers, seems to make a habit of getting the job done. Yet again, the Spaniard, who went all Lord Lucan on us for the best part of a decade, has come back with a bang.
It took Beau Greaves a little while to get the hang of these qualifiers, but she’s in full London bus mode now, with them coming along all at once. In fact, you’ll be seeing the newly crowned Women’s World Matchplay champion at the next three European Tour events, the first of which, in Budapest next month, will be her debut on the big stage.
The shiny-headed, ever-friendly Czech star Karel Sedlacek also boasts a pretty decent strike rate. Okay, so you won’t see him at the next couple of Euro Tours, which is a little odd considering he’s featured in most of the others this season. But he will be in Antwerp.
The full list of qualifiers is below. Just… avert your eyes a little.

Now onto the Swiss Darts Trophy, and I had loads of Sound of Music puns lined up until I discovered that, although some of it was filmed in Switzerland, Austria rather rudely crashed the party.
However, having mentioned Austria, I do have a nice link because Mensur Suljović will be skipping across the mountains to Basel. That said, I think he actually lives in Germany these days, so it’s still not too far away. Unless, of course, you decide to skip. That would be daft. But that describes Mensur fairly well along with ‘box of frogs’.
Unusually, quite a few players doubled up this afternoon and booked their places in both Belgium and Switzerland. No fewer than four arrow-smiths got full marks on their geography test and, just to keep things culturally balanced, they represented four different nations.
Let’s start with the biggest name, Raymond van Barneveld. I don’t mean because his name has six syllables, but because he’s won five World Championships. A good day for Barney fans and, of course, the man himself.
The Spartan, Cristo Reyes, also bagged both. No surprises there.
Dutch-born Swede Jeffrey de Graaf will be seeing quite a bit of the Alps by the end of the autumn.
And last, but by no means least, the Blackburn Rover, Bradley Brooks, who effectively went Bam Bam. See what I did there?
Well done to everyone listed below who qualified.
I don’t need to mention everyone successful today individually because I’ve created a couple of snazzy little graphics.
And yes, sorry, Sietse, me old mucker. I know Lap is your surname but, to be honest, I’ve apologised here and, quite frankly, can’t be arsed changing it!


