Slovakia Sees Underdog Success and Sykes' Dream Debut

The inaugural Slovak Darts Open in Bratislava on Sunday, saw the title go to in form Dutchman Wessel Nijman whondefeated Rob Cross 8-3 in a fantastic final. Yet several other impressive efforts added to overall success of the newest event on the Eruropean Tour calender.

Perhaps then stand out story was Tom Sykes dream Euro Tour debut. Sykes had a tremendously impressive run on his maiden European Tour appearance, winning four consecutive matches to reach the semi-finals and pocket £10,000.

The 33-year-old – who secured his Tour Card at Q-School in January – averaged 103.64 to down Niko Springer in his first-ever European Tour match, before also taking the scalps of Martin Schindler, Cameron Menzies and Jermaine Wattimena to assert his top tier credentials.

In the end it took resurgent former World Champion Rob Cross to halt ‘The Castleford Tiger’ at the semi-final stage. The £10,000 and thebranking boost for Sykes will surely aid in relaxing the newcomer in giving of his very best for the rest of an already impressive debut season.

Cameron Menzies had a strong weekend and seems tonhave put thentravails of the World Championship behind him and recaptured his forms of the last 18 months.

Few will begrudge the popular ‘Cammy’ a place on the Blackpool stage, especially the many Scottish supporters who make the annual pilgrimage to the Winter Gardens.

Mike De Decker refinding some form was another notable chapter of this weekend’s storybook.

De Decker reached the quarter-finals, with the Belgian number one recording his first European Tour wins since February after an incredible display in his 6-2 thrashing of William O’Connor, finishing the match with an average north of 107.

There were notable quarter final runs from Ross Smith and Amdrew Gilding as well as some superb individual math performances including Nathan Aspinall’s whitewash over Ryan Searle in the last 16.

The PDC ProTour resumes with Players Championships 23-24 from July 6-7 in a crucial two days of darts, with the World Matchplay field to be finalised following the conclusion of Event 24.

The European Tour will return shortly after from July 10-12, as Leverkusen hosts the 2026 Elten Safety Shoes European Darts Open.