Topic IDL - New Format

THE 2007 Topic International Darts League will feature a Preliminary Round on Friday 4 May, with eight places in the final field up for grabs.

The main tournament will take place from 5-13 May in Nijmegen, with the top 12 players in the PDC Order of Merit being joined by 12 WDF/BDO players in round one.

A further eight places are now up for grabs from a Preliminary Round to be staged on the evening before the main event starts.

The Preliminary Round will feature the players ranked 13-16 in the PDC Order of Merit - Ronnie Baxter, Andy Jenkins, Barrie Bates and Kevin Painter - along with the four original Wildcards for the main tournament, Mervyn King, Michael van Gerwen, Jelle Klaasen and Vincent van der Voort.

They will be joined by eight PDPA Qualifiers from the knockouts to be staged on Saturday 21 April, along with the players ranked 13-28 in the WDF/BDO ranking list.

This means that the number of qualifiers from Villa Park in the PDPA Qualifiers has been doubled from four to eight, with all players in the Preliminary Round guaranteed 1,000 euro.

The draw for the PDPA Qualifiers will be made on Monday.

The 32 players in the Preliminary Round will be divided into eight groups of four players, with the players competing in a round-robin format and each group winner receiving a First Round place.

Each of the eight groups will be consisted of the following players:
1 x PDC 13-16 or Wildcard
1 x PDPA Qualifier
2 x WDF/BDO player

Topic International Darts League Competitors
Top 12 in PDC Order of Merit: Phil Taylor, Raymond van Barneveld, Colin Lloyd, Peter Manley, Dennis Priestley, Terry Jenkins, Adrian Lewis, Roland Scholten, Wayne Mardle, Andy Hamilton, James Wade, John Part.
WDF/BDO Qualifiers: Gary Anderson, Martin Adams, Tony Eccles, Darryl Fitton, Simon Whitlock, Co Stompé, Martin Atkins, Niels de Ruiter, Mark Webster, John Walton, Tony O'Shea, Ted Hankey
Plus eight qualifiers from Preliminary Round on Friday 4 May.