Northern Ireland's Barry Copeland will return to the iconic Lakeside stage later this year as he joined Corne Groenveld, Bradley Kirk and Jeff Springer Jr in coming through the WDF Men's World Championship qualifier held in Budapest.
They call him The Daddy
Copeland, nicknamed 'The Daddy', made his Lakeside debut in 2023 in a 3-2 Last 32 defeat to Jonny Tata, and will now get a second chance to pick up a victory in Frimley Green.
The two-time WDF ranking event winner's path through the qualifier began with a comfortable victory over Alessandro Casale before he went through the gears to average 88.44, 90.12 and 85.86 in wins over Marcel Walpen, Arno Merk and Michael Mogensen respectively.
The 51-year-old then beat Patrick Tringler 5-3 to set up a qualification decider with England's David Wawrzewski. He raced into an early 3-1 lead against 'Wozzy', only to be pegged back to 4-4 in a race to six. Copeland then punished missed doubles to break the Wawrzewski throw before pinning a 96 checkout to win 6-4 and seal his Lakeside spot.
Groeneveld jumps for joy
The most impressive performance in the final qualification round came from Corne Groeneveld, with the tall Dutchman defeating Paul Mitchell 6-3 to book a Lakeside debut.
A recent change in job has led to an upturn in fortunes on the board for 'Greenfield', who won the Antwerp Open in August and in the week prior to the qualifier had reached the Belfry Open final and the World Masters semi-finals.
After surviving match darts against Romeo Grbavac in the Last 16, Groeneveld found another gear against Mitchell. The 34-year-old produced finishes of 115, 108, 112 and 124 to lead 5-3 before sealing his place in the 2024 WDF World Championship with a match-winning 143 checkout.
Kirk completes the comeback
A former youth standout, Bradley Kirk put the icing on his comeback to the WDF tour this year by securing a Lakeside debut.
Having qualified for the weekend's action in Budapest by winning the Cyprus Masters earlier in the year, Kirk beat Jimmi Nielsen, Christian Helmecke, Henrik Halsvik, Bjorn Vervloet and Elliot Milk to progress to the final round of the qualifier.
There, the 30-year-old took on Germany's Nico Blum. Blum led 3-0 and 5-2 but faltered at the finish line, first missing a bunch of missed match darts before seeing his scoring power desert him.
Kirk capitalised, taking out 16 with the last dart in hand to complete the comeback and win 6-5.
The Stinger Strikes
The fourth man to come through the Budapest qualifier was the American Jeff Springer Jr, who peaked at just the right time to secure a maiden appearance at the Lakeside.
Springer's day started with an innocuous looking 4-3 win over Niklas Klasila but his average improved in almost every game after that.
He had to survive match darts against both Sietse Lap and Sybren Gijbels, coming from 4-2 down to beat the latter 5-4, to book a spot in the final round of the qualifier against Dennie Olde Kalter.
Olde Kalter, the reigning Europe Cup Men's Singles champion, had looked the form player but Springer found another gear, winning four of the last five legs in 16, 16, 14 and 15 darts to triumph 6-3 with a 90.81 average.
