Thursday, July 11, 2023
Column CM131
World Matchplay 2024 – The Debutants
Ricardo Pietreczko
Born: 20. October 1994
Lives in: Nürnberg/Erlangen, Germany
Darts: 23g DataDarts
Nickname: Pikachu
Walk-on-Music: Pokemon Theme (Jason Paige)
German Ricardo Pietreczko is the first of this year’s five debutants who will come on the stage of the Winter Gardens in Blackpool and he will play against World Champion Luke Humphries – not really an easy draw…
Pietreczko, from a Polish family which lived a short time in the USA as well, started to play darts when he was 16. He first played tournaments of the DDV, the BDO and the WDF and was first nominated for the German national team in 2016. That year he took part for the first time in the World Masters, and he returned to the tournament every year until 2020. In 2017, he celebrated his first international success when he reached the semifinals of the WDF World Cup singles. In 2018, he was German Champion. In 2015 and 2018 he played the Super League Germany and in 2018 he qualified for his first European Tour Event.
In 2021, Pietreczko played on the PDC Challenge Tour and in 2022 he got a PDC Tour Card by the Qualifying School ranking. His first year on the Tour was far from spectacular though he once reached a semifinal on the Pro Tour. The second year on the circuit started as average until he won the German Darts Championship – an European Tour Event – and by this qualified for the European Championship and the Grand Slam of Darts. Outstanding in the win was Pietreczko’s hitting rate on the doubles of 100 percent. At the PDC World Championship 2023/24, the German reached the third round where he lost a close match to Luke Humphries.
To date in 2024, Pietreczko has qualified among the Top 16 of the Pro Tour Order of Merit for each European Tour Event – though his form has been quite inconsistent with averages between 80.15 and 100.34. So far, he’s reached one European Tour semifinal. On the Pro Tour his best result was a place in the fourth round.
Pietreczko admits he has a motivation problem. Besides one bizarre appearance and sometimes weird behaviour on stage he lost the first big sympathy of the crowd. Pietreczko has always dreamed to be a darts professional and pursued this goal but now he has difficulties living the part.
It is very difficult to say whether he has a chance to defeat Luke Humphries. In Pietreczko’s favour, of course, is that he already once had Humphries on the ropes. But Humphries is World Champion now and just won the World Cup of Darts – it will be a hard match for the German especially as the crowd probably will support Humphries.
Luke Woodhouse
Born: 13. October 1988
Lives in: Bewdley, England
Darts: 21g Harrows
Nickname: Woody
Walk-on-Music: Country House (Blur)
Directly after Ricardo Pietreczko on the opening night of the World Matchplay, in the last match debutant Luke Woodhouse will come on stage. He will play against reigning champion Nathan Aspinall.
Woodhouse is the third “Luke” on the PDC Circuit at the moment and contrary to Luke Humphries and Luke Littler he is still waiting for his breakthrough. He has often shown good matches and one would think finally he’s managed it but so far, those matches have been infrequent.
Woodhouse started to play darts in 2008. Whether he ever took part in BDO/WDF tournaments is not known. In 2013, he appeared on the PDC Challenge Tour and immediately won an event. Until today it remains his only PDC tournament win.
In 2015, Woodhouse played his first UK Open but lost first round. In 2017, Woodhouse qualified for his first European Tour Events but was as well eliminated first round. In 2018, he got a Tour Card and managed to keep it until today. Since 2019, he has taken part in each UK Open and in each of the Players Championship Finals. In 2023, he reached the quarterfinals of the Players Championship Finals – his so far best placing in a PDC TV tournament. He played his first PDC World Championship in 2020 and reached the third round – his so far best result in this event though he has qualified every year since then.
So far, 2024 has been quite a good year for Woodhouse – he has qualified for seven of the as yet eight European Tour events. Once he reached a quarterfinal. His averages on the European ranged from 83.11 to 98.74 but it looks as though they have started to firm up at quite a high level. On the Pro Tour Woodhouse this year, Woodhouse once reached a semifinal and he reached the sixth round of the UK Open. So, all in all it looks like a slight improvement of his performances.
Woodhouse got in the limelight with a nine-dart on the Home Tour and threw two nine-darters on the Pro Tour as well. He practices a lot with Callan Rydz.
As Nathan Aspinall is showing inconsistent performances at the moment Woodhouse may figure he has a chance to survive the first round of the World Matchplay. But Aspinall is the reigning champion and not one to give in easily. Besides, he is very popular with the crowd. Aspinall to be sure will give all that he has and that could be more then Woodhouse has to offer.
Gian van Veen
Born: 23. April 2002
Lives in: Poderoijen, Netherlands
Darts: 21g Red Dragon Signatur
Nickname: The Giant
Walk-on-Music: Astronomia (Vicetone & Tony Igy)
Gian van Veen will be the third debutant and the only one on the second day of the tournament to make his debut. He will play in the first match of the evening-session against Rob Cross.
The young Dutchman is a huge talent and won at 16 years of age his first WDF Youth Event and one year later his second. In 2020, he for the first time tried to get a Tour Card but failed as he did again in 2021.
So, van Veen played on the Development Tour where he has collected nine wins and which he dominated in 2023. In 2023, he finally got his Tour Card by the ranking and since then has played on the Pro Tour as well and qualified in 2023 for several European Tour Events. At the European Darts Matchplay in 2023 he made headlines with a 6-0 win over Damon Heta (he averaged 114.15). He also reached the semifinals of the European Championship and was runner-up to Luke Littler in the World Youth Championship.
For his achievements he was awarded at the beginning of 2024 at the PDC Awards as best newcomer and as best young player of the year 2023. But it is not that van Veen only impressed in 2023 – there were also disappointments: at the Grand Slam he surprisingly lost all three group matches and he was eliminated by Man Lok Leung in the first round of the PDC World Championship 2023/24.
In 2024, he has so far qualified for all eight European Tour events and twice reached the quarterfinals. He played averages between 92.08 and 102.58 – quite solid to high level. At the UK Open he reached the sixth round, and he stood in the semifinals of the Dutch Darts Masters. But his performances have not been consistently high level – probably not astonishing for a player still so young.
A few years ago, van Veen suffered from dartitis but he thinks he’s managed to get rid of it – especially by still winning games when suffering from the condition. van Veen studied aviation and probably by now has finished his studies.
The match between Rob Cross and Gina van Veen could be a thrilling and well-balanced match – at least if van Veen turns up in good form. Then it probably will be a very open match as well. But Rob Cross already won the World Matchplay once and van Veen is a debutant which could turn out to be a disadvantage.
Luke Littler
Born: 21. January 2007
Lives in: Warrington, England
Darts: 23g Target
Nickname: The Nuke
Walk-on-Music: Greenlight (Pitbull)
Luke Littler will be the fourth of the debutants who will come on stage and he will play in the penultimate first round match against Michael van Gerwen
There is not much new to say about Luke Littler. Littler is probably the youngest ever debutant in the World Matchplay – he started to “play” darts when he was 18 months old and threw his first nine-darter when he was 13. Many more have since followed.
In Youth darts he won more or less everything and when he was 14, he won his first senior title. In 2022, he took part as seeded player in the WDF World Championship and Richard Veenstra needed a record average in the second round to beat him. In the same year, he took part in both the WDF Europe Cup Youth and the WDF Europe Cup. He won the Youth Cup and reached the quarterfinals of the seniors. After that he went on to win the JDC World Darts Championship and PDC players started to sense they would have a hard time with him as soon as he was old enough to join the Circuit.
Littler’s first PDC TV tournament was the UK Open 2023 for which he qualified as an amateur. He lost fourth round to Adam Gawlas – after he had eliminated fellow World Matchplay debutant Ritchie Edhouse in round three. At the end of the year Littler won the PDC Youth World Championship. His opponent was Gian van Veen – now as well a World Matchplay debutant – and after that defended his JDC World Darts Championship title. By the Development Tour Order of Merit he qualified for the PDC World Championship 2023/24 and there gave Christian Kist, Andrew Gilding, Matt Campbell, Raymond van Barneveld, Brendan Dolan and Rob Cross the shivers before he lost to Luke Humphries in the final.
Luke Littler started the year 2024 after he got his Tour Card in Qualifying School with a win at the Bahrain Darts Masters where he defeated Michael van Gerwen in the final. In the following World Series event – the Dutch Darts Masters – it was van Gerwen who defeated Littler in the final. After Littler was nominated for the Premier League many doubted he would be able to cope with it but Littler stayed cool. He met Michael van Gerwen several times in the Premier League, defeated him three times and lost to him four times while two of the defeats were close 5-6 defeats. At the end Littler won the Premier League title after he ended the season as head of the table.
On the Pro Tour Littler started as well with a win. On the European Tour Littler had to play – due to his place in the Order of Merit – through the Tour Card Holder Qualifier, which he managed four times. The fifth time he was qualified by the Pro Tour Order of Merit. Two of the events he won – in only one event his average was lower than at least around 100.
Littler’s clash with van Gerwen in the penultimate first round match on Monday night is probably the most highly anticipated of all first-round matches and it could be a highlight. It could get interesting because van Gerwen’s performances this year have been quite inconsistent and also because Littler too hasn’t won every single match he has played. So, there is no clear favourite. I think one can assume that both will be highly motivated.
Ritchie Edhouse
Born: 19. April 1983
Lives in: Hastings, England
Darts: 23g Mission Darts
Nickname: Madhouse
Walk-on-Music: Our House (Madness)
Ritchie Edhouse is the last of the debutants who will come on stage. He will play in the last match of the first round on Monday night against Chris Dobey.
Edhouse at 41vyears of age is the oldest of the debutants as well. Edhouse started to play darts in 2003 and from 2014 – 2015 played in the BDO. In 2014, he qualified for the World Masters and reached the third round.
Edhouse’s PDC career began in 2016 on the Challenge Tour. He qualified for the UK Open and three times for a European Tour event, where he once reached the third round. In the same year he got his first win on the Challenge Tour. In 2017, Edhouse got a Tour Card but was not good enough in his two Tour Card years to keep it – despite a semifinal on the European Tour. So, he played in 2019 again on the Challenge Tour. He qualified for the PDC World Championship 2020 and lost second round. In 2021, he got his Tour Card back and still has it.
While he so far has never got further than the second round in the World Championship or the Players Championship finals, he played himself into the fourth round of the UK Open 2023. On the European Tour and the Pro Tour at the latest in the third round Edhouse was eliminated – only once in 2023 did he reach a Players Championship semifinal.
This year it looks a little bit better for Edhouse, who already qualified five times for a European Event and twice reached a quarterfinal. He always averaged over 90 with averages between 90.20 to 98.66. His results on the Pro Tour were a little bit better as well – once again he stood in the semifinals. All in all his results were good enough to qualify by the Pro Tour Order of Merit for the World Matchplay.
Edhouse’ opponent, Chris Dobey, started 2024 with a win on the Pro Tour and an semifinal on the European Tour and to be sure is the better darts player – but Dobey has previously lost three times in the first round of the World Matchplay before he reached the quarterfinals last year. Edhouse could turn out to be a rather awkward opponent for Dobey.
