It was last chance saloon for the Ladbrokes.com World Championship and it turned out to be a desperately disappointing day for several Team Unicorn stars.
A field of nearly 100 players battled it out for what turned out to be two prized places at the World Championship.
The reason that two places were awarded from the Derby qualifiers, was that the winner of the Russian Masters informed the PDC on Monday, that he couldn’t take part at the World Championship because of family reasons.
And that was bad news for Team Unicorn’s former Women’s World Champion Anastasia Dobromyslova.
She lost 8-1 to Andrej Rashinkov – the second successive year that Anastasia has been beaten in the final of the Russian World Championship qualifier…..but having won the event, Rashinkov then withdrew.
But the place doesn’t pass to Ana…..instead, under PDC rules, it went to a second qualifier in Derby to complete what has turned out to be a dramatic few days.
And the two to win World Championship spots were veteran Alex Roy and Derbyshire youngster Matt Padgett. Roy beat Wayne Mardle 5-1, while Padgett was a 5-3 winner over Mark Cox.
Unfortunately, the Team Unicorn quartet of Peter Manley, Mick McGowan, Kirk Shepherd and Arron Monk didn’t make it to the Alexandra Palace.
Manley, who has lost three World Championship Finals, was desperate for another crack on the biggest stage in world darts.
But ‘One Dart’ was beaten 5-3 by Irishman Keith Rooney in the 2nd Round.
Monk was left kicking himself after missing several chances in his 2nd Round clash against Wayne Atwood….and the youngster was paid the price, as he lost a last leg decider to the Welshman.
Monk’s consolation is knowing that he will be playing on the Ally Pally stage for £10,000 and the title of PDC Unicorn Under 21 World Champion…..his final against Michael van Gerwen will be played at the tournament.
Monk actually beat McGowan 5-1 in the 1st Round of the qualifiers and the 2008 World Championship runner-up Shepherd also fell at the first hurdle – losing 5-3 to Kevin Dowling.
Team Unicorn’s German star Michael Rosenauer also suffered World Championship disappointment over the weekend.
In a qualifying series of three events, ‘Rosy’ came agonisingly close but finished second behind Jyhan Artut, who returns to the Ally Pally after his good run there 12 months ago.
The draw for the Ladbrokes.com World Championship takes place at 2pm on Tuesday on Sky Sports News.
The top 32 in the world rankings will be joined by 32 qualifiers, including of course Team Unicorn’s very own Joe Cullen, who snatched the 16th and final qualifying spot through the Players Championship Order of Merit.
It is just reward for the hard work and travelling that Cullen has put in during 2010. Hopefully he can now make a big impression on the big stage at the Alexandra Palace. Cullen certainly has the raw talent to cause some ripples at the World Championship.
The top 32 seeds include 13 Team Unicorn players.
Of course, Phil Taylor is the top seed as he chases an incredible 16th World Championship crown. James Wade and Raymond van Barneveld are ranked No.2 and No.3 respectively.
The full top 16 is:
1 – Phil Taylor
2 – James Wade
3 – Raymond van Barneveld
4 – Simon Whitlock
5 – Adrian Lewis
6 – Mervyn King
7 – Terry Jenkins
8 – Ronnie Baxter
9 – Colin Lloyd
10- Mark Walsh
11 – Gary Anderson
12 – Andy Hamilton
13 – Wayne Jones
14 – Colin Osborne
15 – Wes Newton
16 – Paul Nicholson
Elsewhere, Kevin Painter is ranked 18th, Jamie Caven a career high 19th, Barries Bates at 30th, while John Part is No.32
And that means that Unicorn’s three-times World Champion is seeded to meet Taylor at the Ally Pally!
And there will be first news of the World Championship draw right here on the Unicorn Darts Website on Tuesday afternoon!
By STUART PYKE
Photos courtesy Lawrence Lustig / PDC