Luke Woodhouse produced a perfect nine-dart leg as he beat Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-3 in the opening round of the European Championship. The moment came in the fourth leg and delighted the Dortmund crowd. A nine-darter means completing a leg in just nine throws. Woodhouse scored 180 twice before finishing with a treble 20, treble 19 and double 12. The tournament runs from 22 to 25 October.
Woodhouse quickly settled down after the excitement and ended the match by hitting the bullseye, the centre of the board. Afterwards, he said that winning mattered more than the perfect leg. He had previously had a chance to achieve a nine-darter at the World Championship, but it had not gone well. Feeling positive after a very good year, he wanted to avoid following his special moment with a defeat.
His second-round opponent is defending champion Gian van Veen, who overcame Andrew Gilding 6-4. Gilding scored heavily, but Van Veen won the final leg on double eight. He remains in contention to become the first player since 2018 to win the European Championship in consecutive years.
