Euro Stars Dominate in Hildesheim

The rise of continental European players was illustrated again yesterday as Martin Schindler picked up a maiden Players Championship title of his career on home soil.

Germany’s ‘The Wall’ triumphed after a dominant 8-1 victory against Jeffrey De Graaf in the final of Event Eight, as the Pro Tour double header concluded beings at Halle 39, Hildesheim.

Only one of the final four players was from the UK with a Dutchman and a Dutch Swede making up the semi-finalists. A majority (5) of the quarterfinalists were also non UK players.

Also, the day saw a fourth nine dart leg hit across two days in Hildesheim by Germany’s own Lukas Wenig during his first-round defeat to Dom Taylor.

Schindler, who picked up two European Tour titles during an impressive 2024 campaign, reached the final firstly by recording victories against George Killington, Danny Lauby, Robert Grundy, Mensur Suljovic, Kevin Doets and Patrick Geeraets, to set up a clash with Sweden’s De Graaf.

The final began with Schindler charging into a 5-0 lead, with winning legs coming in 16,15,19, 18 and 20 darts respectively, before De Graaf picked up his first leg of the tie in Leg Six with a 17 dart hold of throw. This ultimately turned out to be the only leg won in the decider for the Swede, as Schindler won three successive legs and sealed the victory in Leg Nine with a 22 darter to pick up a third senior PDC title as well as the £15,000 top prize.

De Graaf’s run to a second Pro Tour final of his career saw the 34-year-old record victories on the day against Andy Baetens, Daryl Gurney, Berry Van Peer, Ian White, Dylan Slevin and Dom Taylor, before being denied by Schindler.

Elsewhere, there were Quarter Final runs for PC4 winner Ryan Searle and Dutchman Niels Zonneveld, whilst the likes of Michael Smith, Joe Cullen and Dimitri Van den Bergh were amongst the high profile first-round casualties.

The PDC Pro Tour returns on March 31^st and April 1^st in Leicester as Players Championship Nine & Ten takes place, with 128 players competing for £125,000 in prize money on each day. Play will be broadcasted across four streaming boards on PDC.TV and various bookmaker websites worldwide, with all live scores and results on tv.dartconnect.com.

Players Championship Eight

Last 16

Dylan Slevin 6-3 Sebastian Bialecki

Jeffrey De Graaf 6-3 Ian White

Dom Taylor 6-2 Mario Vandenbogaerde

Ryan Searle 6-3 Nick Kenny

Martin Schindler 6-3 Mensur Suljovic

Kevin Doets 6-3 Ted Evetts

Niels Zonneveld 6-5 Raymond Van Barneveld

Patrick Geeraets 6-5 Greg Ritchie

Quarter Finals

Jeffrey De Graaf 6-5 Dylan Slevin