The Professional Darts Corporation wanted to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine by offering players in the war-ravaged country the chance to compete at the World Championship.
The PDC traditionally allocates a place to a player from the EuroAsian area via a qualifying tournament. However, that region is dominated by Russian players, who, along with players from Belarus, have been barred from competition due to Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.
Therefore, the PDC has had a rethink and will instead hold a Ukrainian qualifying tournament in Kyiv next month, with the winner landing a spot at the Alexandra Palace. It will be a landmark moment for the PDC and Ukrainian darts as a player from the country has never competed at the World Championship or any other PDC event.
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“We didn’t want to deny those players [from Ukraine] the opportunity to still try and qualify for the event,” PDC chief executive Matt Porter told Daily Star Sport .
“In a small way – and in probably the only way we could do – it’s the chance to show solidarity with them at this time. Hopefully, it will give a little sense of normality to their lives and a little escape from the daily difficulties they’re facing at the moment.
“We’ve never had a Ukrainian player appear in any of our events so this will be the first time. It’ll be a landmark moment for darts in Ukraine, which is nice. You’d imagine they’d receive a strong reception from the crowd at the Ally Pally.”
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Like most qualifying events, the Ukrainian tournament will be run by a local organisation team and staged behind closed doors.
Meanwhile, Porter is looking forward to the first World Championship in three years, which will be held without restrictions. The 2020/21 tournament was held almost exclusively behind closed doors because of the pandemic. While fans did return en masse for the 2021/22 event, a few restrictions were still in place.
“The event’s been sold out for six weeks. Everybody’s looking forward to a return to normality at Ally Pally,” said Porter.
“We had crowds last year but still a few restrictions. As things stand, there won’t be any at all this year."
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