Civic to stage UK Open chance for local darters
Amateurs have been invited to Wolverhampton Civic Hall for the chance to land a spot at 'the FA Cup of darts' through competition sponsors Speedy Services.
The UK Open is the first televised single elimination tournament on the PDC Calendar and will be held in Bolton from June 6 to June 9, live on Sky Sports.
And the 128-player field, which includes the top 96 from the PDC Order of Merit, will be completed through open qualifiers at big five venues in the big UK.
Similar events will be held at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Manchester United's Old Trafford and the Alexandra Palace in London, plus a stop at the Civic.
Eight places are available on Monday April 22 at the Civic, which regularly hosts another big televised PDC tournament, the Grand Slam in November.
Registered entrants will embark on a 15 dart challenge, with the highest 16 scores then playing off in best-of-three leg games of 501 to decide the winners.
Speedy, the UK's leading equipment rental and support services company, are sponsoring the UK Open for the third successive years and have high hopes.
Speedy's head of brand marketing Dan Walmsley said: "We can't wait for the qualifiers to begin! In previous years, we have held the qualifiers at our depots.
"But, due to the overwhelming response we have had over the past two years, we have had to look for bigger venues.
"There are a limited number of slots available for the qualifying event in Wolverhampton, so players will have to be quick.
"Anyone who wants to take part will need to pre-register at sports.speedyservices.com."
