Nathan Aspinall, Gabriel Clemens and Dimitri Van den Bergh progress to the second round of the European Tour in Riesa as Peter Wright loses to the German Giant.

Nathan Aspinall put the disappointment of losing in the Quarter final of Thursday’s night Premier League behind him overcoming a spirited performance from Owen Bates who despite trailing 5-2 to the Asp forced a last leg decider only to see Aspinall scrape over the line. James Wade was another winner this evening putting the disappointment of last months Euro Tour and this week’s Players Championships behind him as he beat Mike De Decker by 6 legs to 3. In true James Wade fashion the Englishman averaged over 96, hit 3 180’s and a high out of 108.

The home crowd had plenty to cheer about  as three German players secured their place in the second round. In the last game of the afternoon as Michael Unterbuchner beat Luke Woodhouse 6 legs to 4. Despite Woodhouse coming from 3-1 down to draw level at 4 all it was the local favourite who prevailed taking out 96 in the 9th leg before holding in the next leg to get over the line. Then this evening in an all German affair Martin Schindler had too much for his compatriot Jan Dueckers with The Wall hitting 5 maximums on his way to a 6-1 win. They’ll be joined by Gabriel in tomorrow’s action as he defeated Peter Wright the Scotsman losing out to a last leg decider despite leading 4-1 and having a higher average.

Dancing Dimitri was below his best averaging just shy of 94 but had more than enough to get past the Czech darter Alexander Masek who qualified as the European qualifier by a score line of 6 legs to 2. Brendan Dolan put in a strong performance racing into a 4-0 lead and averaging over 103 in a 6-2 win against Kai Gotthardt who himself averaged 102 and hit 5 maximums in what was a disappointing result for the German. Daryl Gurney made easy work of getting past Patrick Klingelhoefer with the German not getting a dart at the double. Superchin was always in control hitting 3 180’s 50% on his doubles and a 92 average.

Chris Dobey carried on from his midweek victory in Players Championship 7 by easing past Irishman Dylan Slevin. Hollywood had a 54% success rate on his doubles, a high out of 121 and averaged over 96 in a 6-1 demolition after racing into a 5-0 lead. Elsewhere in the evening session Cameron Menzies defeated Australian Simon Whitlock 6-4 and despite only hitting 25% of his doubles the Scot still averaged an impressive 101.

In the first match of the afternoon Ritchie Edhouse followed up his midweek celebration of qualifying for ET5 & ET6 by brushing aside Jitse van der Wal by a score line of 6 legs to 1. Madhouse averaged over 95 and hit 3 180’s in defeating the Dutchman. In a tight match where we had 7 breaks of throw Richard Veenstra who had traild 2-0 and 4-3 to Andrew Gilding before Flyers managed to reel off 3 legs on the spin to win 6-4 taking out 92 to clinch victory over the 2023 UK Open champion. In a low scoring affair Callan Rydz had his double success to thank for seeing him past Lee Evans 6-1 with Rydz hitting 6 out of 9 on the outer ring but only averaging 82.

In the penultimate match of the afternoon it was the Irishman William O’Connor who got the better of Mervyn King. In what is a crucial year for King and the game evenly poised at 3-3 it was the Magpie who was able to find 2 breaks of throw either side of a hold to win 6-3 courtesy of a 92.81 average.

Jose De Sousa recovered from a slow start to defeat Norwegian Cor Dekker 6-3. The former Grand Slam champion trailed 2-0 before reeling off 3 straight legs to book his place in the second round. In the all Dutch clash it was a case of Déjà vu as Gian van Veen once again got the better of Raymond van Barneveld in the first round of the European tour this time winning 6 legs to 3.

The action resumes ivun Riesa at 12:00 GMT on Saturday 13th April

Round 1 results

Ritchie Edhouse 6|1 Jitse van der Wal
Brendan Dolan 6|2 Kai Gotthardt
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6|2 Alexander Masek
Richard Veenstra 6|4 Andrew Gilding
Daryl Gurney 6|0 Patrick Klingelhoefer
Callan Rydz 6|1 Lee Evans
William O’Connor 6|3 Mervyn King
Michael Unterbuchner 6|4 Luke Woodhouse
Jose de Sousa 6|3 Cor Dekker
Chris Dobey 6|1 Dylan Slevin
Martin Schindler 6|1 Jan Dueckers
James Wade 6|3 Mike De Decker
Cameron Menzies 6|4 Simon Whitlock
Gian van Veen 6|3 Raymond van Barneveld
Gabriel Clemens 6|5 Peter Wright
Nathan Aspinall 6|5 Owen Bates