Labanauskas Wins Tour Card

Darius Labanauskas (Lawrence Lustig/PDC)

DARIUS LABANAUSKAS earned a PDC Tour Card for the first time by winning the final day of 2019 European Qualifying School on Sunday in Hildesheim.

Labanauskas, who famously defeated Raymond van Barneveld last month at the William Hill World Darts Championship, clinched glory in Hildesheim with a final victory over another Dutchman in Vincent Van der Meer.

The Lithuanian joined Niels Zonneveld, Mike Van Duivenbode and Christian Bunse in winning Tour Cards outright with tournament triumphs during the four-day event, which had 249 entries. 

Labanauskas' last chance at securing full-time status on the PDC circuit for the next two years began with early wins against Hendrik Eggermann, Day Three finalist Pavel Jirkal and Germany's Sebastian Pohl.

He then defeated Portuguese ace Jose De Sousa to reach the last 16, where he defeated Belgian youngster Kenny Neyens 5-3.

A quarter-final whitewash over France's Thibault Tricole set up a semi-final meeting against Latvian star Madars Razma, which Labanauskas won 5-2 with an average of over 96. 

The 42-year-old then sealed his Tour Card by taking out 80 to complete a 5-3 success against Van der Meer.

"It was really difficult because I knew if I lost a game then I wouldn't get my Tour Card," said Labanauskas.

"I came into today knowing I needed only to win and I was able to do that. I'm very happy."

Dutch hopeful Van der Meer enjoyed opening victories against Francesco Raschini, Roxy-James Rodriguez, Wesley Bour and John Michael to reach the quarter-finals.

There, he defeated fellow Dutchman Toon Greebe 5-3 to set up a meeting with another countryman in Yordi Meeuwisse - who he beat by the same the margin.

There was disappointment in the final for Van der Meer but his performances over the four days left him a strong position to secure a Tour Card after finishing fourth on the final Order of Merit. 

The Order of Merit was topped by Razma - a Players Championship finalist in 2018 - sealing a Tour Card for the Latvian.

Further PDC Tour Cards will be awarded following the completion of the UK Qualifying School to players from both the UK and European Q School Orders of Merit, on a pro-rata basis in relation to tournament entries.

The UK Qualifying School will be held from January 17-20 at the Robin Park Tennis Centre in Wigan. Entries close on Tuesday January 15 at 1400 GMT. Click here for full information.

2019 PDC European Qualifying School
Day Four, Sunday January 6
Last 16

Toon Greebe 5-2 Rene Eidams
Vincent Van der Meer 5-3 John Michael
Jyhan Artut 5-3 Lukasz Waclawski
Yordi Meeuwisse 5-0 Marko Kantele
Darius Labanauskas 5-3 Kenny Neyens
Thibault Tricole 5-2 Pauli Finnila 
Kevin Munch 5-2 Pascal Wirotius
Madars Razma 5-3 Mareno Michels

Quarter-Finals
Vincent Van der Meer 5-3 Toon Greebe
Yordi Meeuwisse 5-2 Jyhan Artut
Darius Labanauskas 5-0 Thibault Tricole
Madars Razma 5-2 Kevin Munch

Semi-Finals
Vincent Van der Meer 5-3 Yordi Meeuwisse
Darius Labanauskas 5-2 Madars Razma

Final
Darius Labanauskas 5-3 Vincent Van der Meer

Final European Qualifying School Order of Merit

1 Madars Razma LAT 16
2 Marko Kantele FIN 12
2 Yordi Meeuwisse NLD 12
2 Vincent Van der Meer NLD 12
5 John Michael GRC 11
6 Jose De Sousa PRT 10
6 Maik Kuivenhoven NLD 10
8 Michael Rasztovits AUT 9
8 Karel Sedlacek CZE 9
8 Christian Goedl AUT 9
8 Sebastian Steyer POL 9
8 Pavel Jirkal CZE 9
8 Boris Koltsov RUS 9
14 Kenny Neyens BEL 8
15 Dragutin Horvat DEU 7
15 Ryan De Vreede  NLD 7
15 Mike De Decker BEL 7
15 Ricardo Pietreczko DEU 7
15 Roxy James Rodriguez AUT 7
15 Geert De Vos BEL 7
15 Nico Schlund  DEU 7
15 Gergely Lakatos HUN 7
15 James Bailey AUS 7
24 Jesús Noguera ESP 6
24 Davyd Venken BEL 6
24 Hannes Schnier AUT 6
24 Thibault Tricole FRA 6
24 Kevin Munch DEU 6
24 Nico Blum DEU 6
24 Jyhan Artut DEU 6
31 Danny Van Trijp NLD 5
31 Toon Greebe NLD 5
31 Mareno Michels NLD 5
31 Michele Turetta ITA 5
31 Jeff Smith CAN 5
36 Pauli Finnila FIN 4
36 Radek Szaganski POL 4
36 Christian  Kallinger AUT 4
36 Maik Langendorf DEU 4
36 Rene Eidams DEU 4
36 Wesley Bour NLD 4
36 Niels Heinsøe DNK 4
36 Lukas Wenig DEU 4
36 Lukasz Waclawski POL 4
36 Pascal Wirotius DEU 4
36 Niels-Joergen Hansen DNK 4
47 Joe Slivan USA 3
47 Lukasz Sawicki POL 3
47 Nigel van Milligen NLD 3
47 Christoff Van De Wal BEL 3
47 Andy  Baetens  BEL 3
47 Pero Ljubic  HRV 3
47 Justin van Tergouw NLD 3
47 Danny Van Klompenburg NLD 3
47 Patrick van den Boogaard NLD 3
47 Dragutin Pecnjak HRV 3
47 Mats Gies NLD 3
47 Stefaan Deprez BEL 3
47 Andreas Harrysson SWE 3
47 Petros Christodoulou CYP 3
47 Erik Hol NLD 3
47 Robin Beger DEU 3
47 Gabriel Rollo ITA 3
64 Michael Plooy NLD 2
64 Cody Harris NZL 2
64 Andrea Micheletti ITA 2
64 Stefano Tomassetti ITA 2
64 Stefan Bellmont CHE 2
64 Andy Bless CHE 2
64 Wilco Vermeulen NLD 2
64 Stefan Nilles DEU 2
64 Patrick van Osch NLD 2
64 Fabian Herz DEU 2
64 Armando Slotboom NLD 2
64 Cor  Ernst  NLD 2
64 Carlo van Cleef NLD 2
64 Nico Mandl AUT 2
64 Tobias Ploetz DEU 2
64 Ewald  Hagemann DEU 2
64 Sebastian Pohl DEU 2
64 Wesley Plaisier NLD 2
64 Marvin Wehder DEU 2
64 Bernd Roith DEU 2
64 Jeremy Jendrzejewski  DEU 2
64 Wim Hofsink NLD 2
64 Erik Tautfest DEU 2
64 Patrik Kovacs HUN 2
64 Florian Hempel DEU 2
64 Jimmy Hendriks NLD 2
64 Jerry Hendriks NLD 2
64 Steffen Siepmann DEU 2
64 Marko Puls DEU 2
64 Ingo Vogt DEU 2
64 Holger Rettig  DEU 2
95 Michal Ondo CZE 1
95 Gerrit Schuur NLD 1
95 Jeffrey Bekema NLD 1
95 Karsten Koch DEU 1
95 Edwin Van der Veen  NLD 1
95 Francesco  Raschini  ITA 1
95 Lyuben Dimitrov BGR 1
95 José Henriques Pinto de Sena  PRT 1
95 Juraj Vindiš SVK 1
95 Jochen Graudenz DEU 1
95 Aegir Bjornsson ISL 1
95 Kevin Blomme BEL 1
95 Berry van Peer NLD 1
95 Felix Losan AUT 1
95 Paulo Ferreira PRT 1
95 Robert Allenstein DEU 1
95 Stefanie Rennoch DEU 1
95 Hendrik Eggermann DEU 1
95 Michael Rosenauer DEU 1
95 Dennis Akhtar  DEU 1
95 Uwe Bacher AUT 1
95 Thomas Köhnlein DEU 1
95 Andreas Flamme DEU 1
95 Dennis Nilsson SWE 1
95 Erwin Renkema NLD 1
95 Wesley van Trijp NLD 1
95 Rusty Jake Rodriguez AUT 1
95 Anton Salge DEU 1
95 Co Stompé NLD 1
95 Michael Kiebel  DEU 1
95 Massimo Dalla Rosa ITA 1
95 Luis  Camacho CHE 1
95 Simeon Heinz DEU 1
95 Kobus Vriezen NLD 1
95 Gino Drobick DEU 1
95 Aaron Rahlfs DEU 1
95 Egor Tvorogov DEU 1
95 Markandu Garunakumar LKA 1
95 Muzaffer Celik DEU 1
95 Christopher Haensch DEU 1
95 Richard van Zijtveld NLD 1
95 Sandro  Wyss CHE 1
95 Alexander Tauber DEU 1
138 Thomas  Lazic  DEU 0
138 Thomas Junghans DEU 0
138 Theo de Jong NLD 0
138 Rowdy Schoremans NLD 0
138 Michel Furlani ITA 0
138 Ivan Springborg Poulsen  DNK 0
138 János  Végso  HUN 0
138 Vladimír Zatko SVK 0
138 Arjan Konterman NLD 0
138 Wessel Nijman NLD 0
138 Jens Kniest  DEU 0
138 Philipp Gerwing DEU 0
138 Danny Kaiser DEU 0
138 Duvaan Ata NLD 0
138 Gabriel Florin  Olar ROU 0
138 Alexander Tröbs DEU 0
138 Michal Smejda CZE 0
138 Glenn Leysen BEL 0
138 Kevin Antz DEU 0
138 Michael Häusler DEU 0
138 Pavel Drtil CZE 0
138 Melvin de Fijter NLD 0
138 Juergen  Hartung  DEU 0
138 Steven-Hendrik Schultze DEU 0
138 David Rosí CZE 0
138 Alessio Medaina ITA 0
138 Manfred Bilderl DEU 0
138 René Berndt DEU 0
138 Marcel Plaewe DEU 0
138 Philipp Hagemann DEU 0
138 Kevin Knopf DEU 0
138 Jakub Kašpar CZE 0
138 Ronald Balfoort NLD 0
138 Mehdi Poggi FRA 0
138 Fabian  Freitag DEU 0
138 Veniamin Symeonidis GRC 0
138 Dominik Thiel DEU 0
138 Stefan Taferner AUT 0
138 Co Stompe Jnr NLD 0
138 David Schlichting DEU 0
138 Jonathan Lang DEU 0
138 Dominic Keller DEU 0
138 Mick Hasse DEU 0
138 Daniel  Sprudzs DEU 0
138 Marcel Gugger CHE 0
138 Marcel Goldschmidt DEU 0
138 William Schwaß DEU 0
138 Petr Rouc CZE 0
138 Sandor Farkas HUN 0
138 Vladimir Angelov MKD 0
138 Karsten Kornath DEU 0
138 Matthew Clarke AUS 0
138 Nico Wagner DEU 0
138 Deniz Armut NLD 0
138 Geordie Martis NLD 0
138 Alexander Steinbauer  AUT 0
138 Alexander Merkx  NLD 0
138 Shanendo Aué NLD 0
138 Mike Poge DEU 0
138 Kevin Grebe DEU 0
138 Rolf Marks DEU 0
138 Patric Aeschbach CHE 0
138 Martin Popelka CZE 0
138 Joerg  Hofmann  DEU 0
138 Justin Müller  DEU 0
138 Mario Jodozy BEL 0
138 Levy Frauenfelder NLD 0
138 Marius May DEU 0
138 Roman Benecky CZE 0
138 Tomas Seyler DEU 0
138 Michael Hurtz DEU 0
138 David Peretz DEU 0
138 Jeffrey De Graaf NLD 0
138 Javier Rodriguez ESP 0
138 Sandro Kopper DEU 0
138 Jose Ventura ESP 0
138 Leo Hendriks NLD 0
138 Matthias Lex DEU 0
138 Armend Avdija SRB 0
138 Till Meischner DEU 0
138 Helge Gross DEU 0
138 Mindaugas Barauskas LTU 0
138 Brian Kaemena DEU 0
138 Georg  Kühweidner  AUT 0
138 Fredi Gsellmann AUT 0
138 Rene Fabbro AUT 0
138 Nico Kurz DEU 0
138 Christian Eckert DEU 0
138 Pascal Bäuerle DEU 0
138 Sandor Ballo HUN 0
138 Stefan Baake DEU 0
138 Philipp Netzer DEU 0
138 Lasse Petersen DEU 0
138 Hendrik Riedel DEU 0
138 Jörg Meinert DEU 0
138 Sammy Kreitz DEU 0
138 Markus Brummer DEU 0
138 Thomas Arhelger DEU 0
138 Andre Christen CHE 0
138 Frederic Mozelewski DEU 0
138 Ulrich Jansen DEU 0
138 Jody Deramoudt BEL 0
138 Thomas Neugebauer DEU 0
138 Gerrit Begemann DEU 0
138 Thomas Kohlmann DEU 0
138 Pierre Azzam NLD 0
138 Remon Hurrebrink NLD 0
138 Malte Schleinitz DEU 0