Michael van Gerwen and James Wade will make their return to PDC European Tour action at the HappyBet European Darts Trophy in Muelheim this weekend. The pair missed last weekend’s International Darts Open in Riesa due to injury and illness respectively, although both are fit to participate at the RWE Arena.
Van Gerwen and Wade have both tasted success on the European Tour in 2016, and MvG could face a second-round clash with former World-Youth champion Keegan Brown. ‘The Machine’ will meet either Ritchie Edhouse, or former major semi-finalist Justin Pipe on Saturday afternoon.
However, one man who won’t be competing in Muelheim is Dutch Darts Masters finalist Daryl Gurney, who remains sidelined with a broken finger. The Northern Irishman was forced to pull out of last weekend’s event due to his injury, and he will be replaced by a fifth home-nation qualifier.
Thursday evening will see five German players come through the Host Nation Qualifier, with the main event commencing on Friday as the 32 qualifiers face off.
One of the ties of the first-round will see the veteran Mervyn King take on Belgian hotshot Dimitri van den Bergh, whilst Andy Smith takes on Robbie Green. Elsewhere, German Darts Masters semi-finalist Joe Cullen will take on new-dad Jamie Lewis, who welcomed daughter Jorgie into the world on Thursday morning.
