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It is the first tournament weekend of the new season.

The world's best darts players play four tournaments in Bolton from Thursday to Sunday.

World champion Gerwyn Price is there, Michael van Gerwen, Peter Wright and everything else that has rank and name at the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC).

Recently, Raymond van Barneveld has been part of this again.

The PDC world champion from 2007 actually ended his career in December 2019 and said goodbye to well-deserved retirement.

But the 53-year-old is back this year after his resignation.

And how!

Raymond van Barneveld - Farewell to a legend

Raymond van Barneveld is a darts legend.

After Phil Taylor retired in 2018, “Barney”, the next formative player in darts, stepped down from the big stage.

The Dutchman is only 40th in the world rankings.

Source: Lutz Wöckener, André Elsner

“Barney” surprisingly secured the tournament victory on Saturday at the third of the four events.

It is his first since 2013. The question of whether he is doing himself a favor with the comeback, whether he is still good enough in view of the increased level on the tour, is answered impressively and earlier than expected.

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The legend from the Netherlands played a daily average of 97.93 and knocked Rob Cross and Ian White out of the tournament on the way to the final.

In the final he defeated Joe Cullen 8: 6.

The Englishman had already triumphed at the start on Friday and won the first tournament.

After a strong World Cup, still on the advance: Joe Cullen is on his way to the top ten

Source: Getty Images / Luke Walker

Clemens and Schindler with respectable successes

In order to be able to return to the professional tour at all, van Barneveld had to qualify through the Q-School like all the other contenders.

Two weeks ago more than 600 players tried to win one of the 29 tour tickets there.

Van Barneveld was able to cheer in the end, as did the four Germans Martin Schindler, Michael Unterbuchner, Robert Marijanovic and Florian Hempel and secure the right to start at the PDC for the next two years.

Even at the tournament in Niedernhausen, the old master had demonstrated his seriousness and form strength with strong performances.

From a German perspective, too, the start of the professional tour was promising.

On the first day, top player Gabriel Clemens reached the quarter-finals in the 128 field.

On Friday, Schindler made it to the round of 16.

On Saturday, Clemens and Max Hopp were the last Germans to be eliminated from the round of 32.

Clemens lost against South African Devon Petersen 2: 6, the "Maximiser" was defeated by José de Sousa with the same result.

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After the conclusion on Sunday, the coming weekend will continue with a real highlight.

The UK Open (including live at DAZN) are on the program from Friday to Sunday.

Van Barneveld won the major in 2006 and 2007. The third title would be a fairy tale, but nothing seems unthinkable after this weekend at Bolton.

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