Austria’s Harald Leitinger was the first player to win a PDC Tour Card with his success on Day One at the European Qualifying School.<\/p>\n
Leitinger, 35, edged past Martijn Kleermaker 5-4 in their final in Hildesheim, after the Dutchman missed his chance to claim a Tour Card in their deciding leg.<\/p>\n
Leitinger has only previously competed twice in PDC events, in 2011 and 2017, but will now get his chance to become a full-time professional in 2020 and 2021 after securing his status on the PDC circuit.<\/p>\n
He won eight games on the day at Halle 39, including defeats of Austrian World Cup representative Zoran Lerchbacher and former World Youth Championship finalist Berry van Peer in deciding legs.<\/p>\n
Leitinger also overcame Dutch duo Wesley Harms and Kay Smeets as well as Belgium’s Brian Raman in the latter stages as he progressed to claim a coveted Tour Card.<\/p>\n
Kleermaker gained valuable ranking points in his bid to claim a PDC Tour Card, while Raman and Croatia’s Boris Krcmar were semi-finalists on Day One of the four-day Qualifying School in Hildesheim.<\/p>\n
European Qualifying School Day One
\nLast 16
\nBrian Raman 5-2 Tytus Kanik
\nFranz Roetzsch 5-4 Wesley Plaisier
\nKay Smeets 5-3 Thomas Junghans
\nHarald Leitinger 5-2 Wesley Harms
\nKarel Sedlacek 5-4 Jeffrey de Graaf
\nBoris Krcmar 5-4 Dragutin Horvat
\nMartijn Kleermaker 5-4 Thibault Tricole
\nTonny Veenhof 5-3 Derk Telnekens<\/p>\n
Quarter-Finals
\nBrian Raman 5-0 Franz Roetzsch
\nHarald Leitinger 5-2 Kay Smeets
\nBoris Krcmar 5-3 Karel Sedlacek
\nMartijn Kleermaker 5-3 Tonny Veenhof<\/p>\n
Semi-Finals
\nHarald Leitinger 5-2 Brian Raman
\nMartijn Kleermaker 5-4 Boris Krcmar<\/p>\n
Final
\nHarald Leitinger 5-4 Martijn Kleermaker<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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