Fallon Sherrock’s hopes of earning her PDC Tour Card have suffered a setback after she was beaten in her opening match of Qualifying School First Stage.
The PDC Qualifying Schools provide any darts player aged 16 and above with a chance to earn a two-year PDC Tour Card, with Qualifying School being held at venues in the UK and Germany simultaneously across a seven-day period.
First Stage is held from Monday to Wednesday, with the eight quarter-finalists from each day qualifying automatically for the Final Stage, while the remaining places in the Final Stage – up to a total of 128 at each venue – are decided from an Order of Merit.
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Sherrock was playing in the UK Qualifying School, held at Milton Keynes’ Marshall Arena, where she was beaten 5-4 in the last-256 stage on Monday by Shaun Carroll, although will have opportunities over the next two days to still make it through to Final Stage.
The ‘Queen of the Palace’ fired a 83.37 average before being beaten in a final-leg decider, with Sherrock joined by Noa-Lynn van Leuven – the first trans player to complete at the World Darts Championship in losing early on the opening day.
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Van Leuven thrashed Jordy Jozee in straight legs in her opening match but lost 5-3 to Riccardo Rech in the last-256 stage of the European Qualifying School, held at Wunderland in Kalkar.
Elsewhere, former world champion John Part was beaten 5-2 his opener by Thomas Cromwell, while ex-world championship runners-up Mark Dudbridge and Andy Hamilton also lost their first matches against Frankie Ansell and Chris Hurds respectively.
Mason Whitlock – the son of former world championship runner-up Simon Whitlock – was beaten 5-1 in his opening match, with Devon Petersen despatched in straight legs by Jarred Cole at the last-64 stage.
More to follow…
What happens next in Q-School?
There are 474 players in First Stage action at European Qualifying School, with 354 players in the UK Qualifying School and players who lost their Tour Card at the end of 2024 are exempt through to Final Stage in either country.
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They will be joined at Final Stage by players in the top 16 from the respective 2024 Winmau Challenge Tour and Development Tour Orders of Merit who do not already have Tour Cards for 2025.
UK Final Stage Exempt Players: Andy Boulton, Keegan Brown, Henry Coates, Lee Cocks, Tavis Dudeney, Lee Evans, Callum Goffin, Beau Greaves, Graham Hall, John Henderson, Jamie Hughes, Mervyn King, Aden Kirk, Jim Long, Charlie Manby, Arron Monk, Josh Payne, Christian Perez, Daniel Perry, Darryl Pilgrim, Adam Smith-Neale, Graham Usher, Adam Warner, Brandon Weening, Simon Whitlock.
European Final Stage Exempt Players: Stefan Bellmont, Jeffrey De Zwaan, Adam Gawlas, Dominik Gruellich, Andreas Harrysson, Dragutin Horvat, Danny Jansen, Daniel Klose, Robbie Knops, Boris Krcmar, Maik Kuivenhoven, Darius Labanauskas, Jacques Labre, Alexander Merkx, Kayden Milne, Geert Nentjes, Rowby-John Rodriguez, Owen Roelofs, Karel Sedlacek, Jeffrey Sparidaans, Jurjen van der Velde, Jimmy van Schie, Danny van Trijp, Marvin van Velzen.
A total of 29 PDC Tour Cards will be on offer in Final Stage, with each of the daily winners in the UK and Europe receiving an automatic Tour Card. The remaining 21 Tour Cards will be allocated to players from the UK and European Q School Final Stage Orders of Merit, and split on a pro-rata basis of total participants in each region.
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