Peter Wright set for European Championship title defence in Salzburg | Darts News
3 min read
The European Championship gets underway in Salzburg with 32 of the world’s stars in action across four days, including defending champion Peter Wright, Michael van Gerwen, James Wade, Rob Cross and Simon Whitlock
Last Updated: 14/10/21 10:57am
Peter Wright is set to defend his European Championship title in Salzburg
Peter Wright is set to defend his European Championship title, with former champions Michael van Gerwen, James Wade, Rob Cross and Simon Whitlock also among the field.
The tournament will see the top 32 players from the European Tour Order of Merit in action across six sessions from October 14-17 at the Salzburgarena, with £500,000 in prize money up for grabs.
The first round sees 16 matches take place across the opening two sessions on Thursday and Friday, as Wright begins the defence of the title he won with an 11-4 defeat of Wade in last year’s final.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Michael van Gerwen joined Wright in exiting the World Grand Prix in the opening round on a night of shocks
The Scot will be aiming to bounce back from a first-round exit to Cross at the World Grand Prix last week.
« Obviously it was disappointing to lose in the first round last week, » Wright admitted. « But fair play to Rob, he played great to beat me.
« But that’s gone now and I’m glad we have a short turnaround to the European Championship.
« Last year this tournament was great for me personally, I averaged well over 100 in all of my games so it will go down as one of my best tournament performances.
« It would be great if I could retain my title, but I know I’ve got a tough first round draw against Florian, who will be looking to show what he can do on the big stage. »
2021 European Championship
MVG opens his European Championship quest on Friday
Thursday October 14
Evening Session (2000 local time, 1900 BST)
First Round x8
Simon Whitlock v William Borland
Brendan Dolan v Kim Huybrechts
Rob Cross v Keane Barry
Luke Humphries v Callan Rydz
Jose de Sousa v Lewis Williams
Peter Wright v Florian Hempel
Mensur Suljovic v Adam Hunt
Joe Cullen v Ted Evetts
Friday October 15
Evening Session (2000 local time, 1900 BST)
First Round x8
Adam Gawlas v Joe Murnan
Krzysztof Ratajski v Danny Noppert
James Wade v Adam Smith-Neale
Nathan Aspinall v Mervyn King
Michael Smith v Ryan Searle
Michael van Gerwen v Boris Krcmar
Gerwyn Price v Ritchie Edhouse
Damon Heta v Gabriel Clemens
Saturday October 16
Afternoon Session (1345 local time, 1245 BST)
Second Round x4
Evening Session (2000 local time, 1900 BST)
Second Round x4
Sunday October 17
Afternoon Session (1345 local time, 1245 BST)
Quarter-Finals
Evening Session (2000 local time, 1900 BST)
Semi-Finals & Final
Format
First Rounds – Best of 11 legs
Second Round – Best of 19 legs
Quarter-Finals – Best of 19 legs
Semi-Finals – Best of 21 legs
Final – Best of 21 legs
Join us for live coverage of the Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton next month. Check out daily Darts news on skysports.com/darts, our app for mobile devices and our Twitter account @skysportsdarts
