Fallon Sherrock's hopes of earning her PDC Tour card suffered a setback after she was defeated in her first match of the first stage of the Qualifying School.
The PDC Qualifying Schools give any darts player aged 16 and over the chance to earn a two-year PDC Tour Card, with the Qualifying School taking place at venues in Great Britain and Germany simultaneously over a seven-day period.
The first stage takes place from Monday to Wednesday, with the eight quarter-finalists from each day automatically qualifying for the final stage, while the remaining places in the final stage – up to a total of 128 in each place – are decided by Order of Merit.
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Sherrock played in the UK Qualifying School, held at Milton Keynes' Marshall Arena, where she was beaten 5-4 by Shaun Carroll in the 256 final stage on Monday, although she will have opportunities over the next two days to go through. to the final stage.
The 'Queen of the Palace' shot an average of 83.37 before being beaten in the final decider and Sherrock was joined by Noa-Lynn van Leuven – the first trans player to end up at the World Darts Championship losing early on day one.
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Van Leuven defeated Jordy Jozee in straight legs in her first match, but lost 5-3 to Riccardo Rech in the final 256 stage of the European Qualifying School, held at Wunderland in Kalkar.
Elsewhere, former world champion John Part beat Thomas Cromwell 5-2 in his opener, while former world runners-up Mark Dudbridge and Andy Hamilton also lost their first matches against Frankie Ansell and Chris Hurds.
Mason Whitlock – son of former world champion runner-up Simon Whitlock – was beaten 5-1 in his opening match and Devon Petersen saw off Jarred Cole in straight legs at the last-64 stage.
More to come…
What happens next at Q-school?
There are 474 players in first-stage action in the European Qualifying School, with 354 players in the UK Qualifying School, and players who lose their tour at the end of 2024 are exempt until the final stage in both countries.
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They will be joined in the final stage by the top 16 players from the respective Winmau Challenge Tour and Development Tour Orders of Merit who do not yet have 2025 Tour Cards.
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.
Excluded players for the final stage of Europe: 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, Geertw -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 the final stage, with each of the day's winners in the UK and Europe receiving an automatic Tour Card. The remaining 21 Tour Cards will be awarded to UK and European Q School Final Stage Order of Merit players, and distributed on a pro-rata basis from the total number of participants in each region.
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