Young Guns Battle Established Stars In Hildesheim

Michael Van Gerwen was victorious on Sunday in winning Players Championship 7, after an 8-4 victory over Josh Rock in the decider, as the PDC Pro Tour double-header commenced at Halle 39, Hildesheim.

In what is swiftly becoming a pattern, on this year’s tour, the newer tour players and young guns such as Rock, were confronted by several experienced names having strong days.

Van Gerwen, who lost out in the UK Open Final earlier this month, reached his 1^st Pro Tour final of the year by recording victories against Jacques Labre, Keegan Brown, Martin Lukeman, Boris Krcmar, Dirk Van Duijvenbode and Bradley Brooks, to set up a clash with Rock.

The final began with Rock taking the opener in 17 darts, before Van Gerwen rattled off three consecutive legs in a total of 48 darts to move 3-1 ahead. The Dutchman then won two of the following three legs, before the Northern Irish starlet attempted a fight back from 5-2 down by winning back-to-back legs in a total of 31 darts. Van Gerwen then denied a comeback from Rock, by winning three straight legs for the second time in a tie, sealing the win with a 17 darter and an 8-4 victory to pick up yet another PDC Pro Tour title.

Rock’s run to a 1^st final of the year saw him record victories against Steve Lennon, Luke Woodhouse, Brendan Dolan, Mario Vandenbogaerde, Dimitri Van den Bergh and Krzysztof Ratajski, before being denied by MVG.

Elsewhere, there were mixed fortunes for the bigger names. Quarter Final runs for Dave Chisnall and Mickey Mansell, with the likes of Gerwyn Price, Rob Cross and Raymond Van Barneveld among the names to suffer first-round exits, whilst Brendan Dolan fired in a perfect leg during his 2^nd round victory against Richard Veenstra.

Veenstra may have come up short this time but Flyers has had a solid start to his PDC career with several L16s and a Qtr final. Cam Crabtree, Jeffrey Sparidaans and Bradley Brooks strongly represented the newer names while Rock flew the flag highest reaching the final.

The PDC Pro Tour double-header concludes on Monday with Players Championship Eight taking place in Hildesheim, with the 128 players returning to compete for a further £100,000 in prize money, with play beginning at 13:00 CET. Play will be broadcasted across two streaming boards on PDC.TV and various bookmaker websites worldwide, with all live scores and results on tv.dartconnect.com.

Players Championship 7

Last 16

Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-4 Luke Humphries

Josh Rock 6-4 Mario Vandenbogaerde

Krzysztof Ratajski 6-3 Cam Crabtree

Mickey Mansell 6-5 Ross Montgomery

Dave Chisnall 6-3 Stephen Bunting

Bradley Brooks 6-4 Callan Rydz

Dirk Van Duijvenbode 6-4 Jeffrey Sparidaans

Michael Van Gerwen 6-3 Boris Krcmar

Quarter Finals

Josh Rock 6-3 Dimitri Van den Bergh