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Van der Voort calls for more ranked tournaments to be implemented

Jamie Shaw in Darts Interviews 21 Nov 2018
Van der Voort celebrates at Ally Pally (credit:Lawrence Lustig/PDC)
Vincent van der Voort has called for PDC Chairman Barry Hearn to implement less invitationals and more ranking tournaments to the PDC calendar.
The Dutch star, a former UK Open finalist and two-time PDC World Championship quarter-finalist, has battled back from the verge of retirement in 2016 to hold down his place in the world’s top 40.
The 42-year-old suffers from spinal hernia and has undergone regular physiotherapy treatment in an attempt to reduce the pain whilst on the oche. 
Van der Voort is among a clutch of elite Dutch players on the PDC circuit but major tournament appearances have proved few and far between during his battle to regain fitness and recapture his best form
In 2019, Rotterdam will stage a double-header of Premier League action, while the World Series Finals will be held in Amsterdam and a European Tour event in Zwolle.
Van der Voort says he hopes to see a ranking major held in the darting hotbed of the Netherlands and believes there should be more televised ranking tournaments added to the schedule.
“To play in your home country and have a week-long tournament would be great but the problem is the week-long tournaments are all stuck to the same venue all the time,” Van der Voort told Live Darts.
“In the PDC we have too many tournaments that are not ranked and not that important so maybe a new tournament would be great, a week tournament that would be ranked in Holland.
“One question you want to ask Barry [Hearn] is: Do you think it’s sport or entertainment?
“Is he looking at being like wrestling or do you want to be a real sport? Because all the new tournaments he makes up are non-ranked so he can put in everyone who he wants.
“It’s not about who’s the best player in the world who plays there and I think that’s something to look after, but I’m not the boss.”
Van der Voort kick-started his resurgence with a run to the Last 16 of last year’s William Hill World Championship, banishing the memories of his painful First Round exit 12 months earlier.
Though he has not progressed beyond the Last 16 of a PDC ranking tournament this season, Van der Voort has booked his place in both the Players Championship Finals and World Championship and hopes to use the upcoming majors as a springboard to a more consistent campaign in 2019.
“I knew at the beginning of the year, because of my back, I had to change my throw and stance and I did that and knew the first couple of months would be really hard to adjust,” revealed Van der Voort.
“Now I think I’m starting to get better and better and I think next year will be alright.
“Once the doctor tells you you’ve got two hernias and a bad left hip then it’s really difficult but I’ve found a stance that I’m not putting any pressure on it.
“It’s just like learning to play darts again from the start, it takes time before you can play well again.
“I’m not looking at the rankings, I’m looking at results at every tournament, this year I’ve had some good averages but also some really poor ones.
“I’m looking forward to the Worlds, I’m always looking forward to that and I think I will play well there.
“I know I can beat anybody in the world but I can also lose to anybody so it depends which Vincent turns up,” he added.