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European Darts Championship 2023 | Draw, Live Scores and Schedule of Play

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Ricardo Pietreczko dethrones Ross Smith at the European Championship as Van Gerwen survives scare

European Darts Championship 2023 | Day Two Preview and Order of Play

Jamie Shaw in European Championship 28 Oct 2023

Ross Smith reacts (Photo by Jonas Hunold/PDC)

The First Round action continues at the 2023 European Darts Championship on Friday as a host of big guns aim to hit the ground running in Dortmund.

Day One of the £500,000 ranking major saw top seed Dave Chisnall crash out at the first hurdle, alongside the likes of Dimitri van den Bergh and home favourites Gabriel Clemens and Martin Schindler.

Matches from the bottom half of the draw take centre stage on Day Two at the Westfalenhallen, featuring a number of current TV title holders.

One of those is defending European Champion Ross Smith, who gets his campaign under way with a clash against rising star Ricardo Pietreczko.

Smith claimed his first major title in dream fashion here 12 months ago with victory over Michael Smith in the final, and will look to pick up from where he left off.

Smith warmed up for his title defence in perfect style by securing a second Players Championship title of the season last week and starts out against an opponent on cloud nine after recently capturing his first PDC title.

Pietreczko picked up the German Darts Championship title in Hildesheim less than a fortnight ago to secure a debut in this competition, and the 29-year-old is the last German standing in the draw as he looks to delight a packed Dortmund crowd.

Meanwhile, Michael van Gerwen begins his bid for a record fifth European Championship crown when he faces Latvia’s Madars Razma.

Van Gerwen is locked level with Phil Taylor on four titles, having gone unbeaten in this event from 2014-2017, but his six-year drought is the longest of any major ranking tournament for the Dutch sensation.

MVG eclipsed Taylor’s tally of six Premier League titles earlier this year and has also picked up the US Masters and Poland Masters titles, as well as the World Series Finals.

Razma returns for a second successive appearance in this event, having lost to Dirk van Duijvenbode on debut last year, and has featured in eight European Tour events during the year, with a Third Round run at the European Grand Prix marking his best performance.

World Grand Prix champion Luke Humphries opens up his quest for back-to-back major titles with a tie against veteran Brendan Dolan.

Humphries defeated Gerwyn Price to land his first major silverware in Leicester earlier this month and heads to Dortmund as the number two seed after claiming a fifth Euro Tour title in July and finishing runner-up in a further five Euro Tour events this term.

The world number four was a quarter-finalist here last year, losing out to Michael Smith, and will look to maintain the blistering form which carried him to double-start glory at the Grand Prix.

Dolan, however, is no stranger to a scalp in major tournaments this year, having accounted for Van Gerwen at the World Matchplay and Van Duijvenbode at the World Grand Prix, and was a semi-finalist in this event back in 2012 – defeating Phil Taylor along the way.

A tantalising all-Northern Irish battle sees World Youth champion Josh Rock take on two-time major winner Daryl Gurney.

Rock recently leapfrogged Gurney to become the top ranked Northern Irish player on the PDC Order of Merit, and next year’s potential World Cup pairing will now face off in a televised tournament for the first time.

Rock has reached a European Tour final and three Players Championship finals this season, but has suffered First Round exits in both the World Matchplay and World Grand Prix.

Gurney is a two-time European Championship semi-finalist (2017 and 2019) and was in fine fettle during last week’s Players Championship series, hitting a nine-darter and also averaging 117.

James Wade, the 2018 European Champion, comes up against seventh seed Dirk van Duijvenbode.

Both players have endured disappointing results in TV majors this year and will be determined to mount a strong run in Dortmund to kick-start the business end of the season.

Wade, who recently dropped out of the world’s top 16 for the first time in 17 years, has suffered successive First Round exits at the World Matchplay and World Grand Prix and his best run of the season came at the European Darts Matchplay – where he reached the Semi-Finals.

Van Duijvenbode enjoyed a fine run to the Semi-Finals here last time out and has fallen short in deciding legs in two Euro Tour finals this year, while picking up three ProTour titles between February and April.

A repeat of the 2021 Premier League final sees Jonny Clayton take on Jose De Sousa.

Clayton prevailed 11-5 on that occasion to claim the biggest title of his career to date, and this season has seen the Welshman secure a second World Cup of Darts crown and a second Austrian Open title, as well as finishing runner-up at the World Matchplay.

De Sousa famously landed a nine-darter in this event three years ago, but his form has taken a dip this season, with the Portuguese star dropping to 22nd in the Order of Merit following First Round defeats at the World Matchplay and World Grand Prix.

The opening match of the night features a mouth-watering contest between sixth seed Damon Heta and World Youth Championship finalist Gian van Veen.

The pair have met twice on the European Tour this year, claiming one win apiece, with Heta notably prevailing 6-4 in last month’s Hungarian Trophy to end the Dutchman’s hopes of World Grand Prix qualification.

Heta has reached four Euro Tour Semi-Finals this year, while also picking up two Players Championship titles and was runner-up at Players Championship 28 last Saturday.

Van Veen has established himself as the most exciting emerging Dutch talent and is set to break into the world’s top 64 in his first year as a Tour Card holder after reaching two Euro Tour Quarter-Finals and embarking on several deep runs in ProTour events.

German Darts Open champion Krzysztof Ratajski starts out against former Masters champion Joe Cullen.

Ratajski claimed his second Euro Tour title last month and will be desperate to change his fortunes in this competition, having suffered First Round exits in each of his five previous appearances.

Cullen, meanwhile, reached the Semi-Finals of this event in 2018 and 2021 and has also made the Semi-Finals of both the World Matchplay and World Grand Prix this year to close in on the world’s top ten.

The action gets under way from 6pm BST, with First Round matches to be contested over the best of 11 legs.

WATCH ALL EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES STREAMED LIVE

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European Darts Championship 2023 Day Two Schedule

All times BST (local time +1 hour)

Friday October 27

First Round

5.45pm-10pm
Damon Heta v Gian van Veen
Krzysztof Ratajski v Joe Cullen
Josh Rock v Daryl Gurney
Jonny Clayton v Jose De Sousa
Dirk van Duijvenbode v James Wade
Luke Humphries v Brendan Dolan
Michael van Gerwen v Madars Razma
Ricardo Pietreczko v Ross Smith

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European Darts Championship 2023 | Day Two Preview and Order of Play

European Darts Championship 2023 Day Two Schedule

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