For three days The MVM Dome in Budapest will play host to 48 of the world's best arrow-smiths and with Grand Prix qualification places still up for grabs, it promises to be a cracker. Joe Cullen reigned supreme last year, but with nine different winners from eleven events in the European Tour so far, every player will surely fancy their chances of going all the way.
Starting on the 22nd and finishing on the 24th September, this year's Hungarian Darts Trophy has added incentive due to the upcoming World Grand Prix. Germany's Ricardo Pietreczko currently occupies the last spot but has England's, Luke Woodhouse, and Dutch wonderkid, Gian van Veen on his tail.
Despite the top 16 ProTour seeded players getting a bye to the second round, all three Grand Prix hopefuls have tough round one matches. Both Pietreczko and Woodhouse play against two homegrown heroes in Nandor Major and Gabor Jagicza. Meanwhile, van Veen will face the vastly experienced Brendan Dolan in what is, arguably, the pick of the first round fixtures.
Read more: Who is Gian van Veen? - the new Dutch darting superstar
Other notable round one matches include Daryl Gurney v Jose De Sousa and Northern Irish youngster, Nathan Rafferty against an in-form Stephen Bunting.
Second round draw
Rob Cross (6) v Gabor Jagicza/Luke Woodhouse
Peter Wright (11) v Madars Razma/Scott Waites
Luke Humphries (3) v Gabriel Clemens/Keane Barry
Martin Schindler (14) v Sebastian Bialecki/Mihaly Videa
Gerwyn Price (7) v Nathan Rafferty/Stephen Bunting
Joe Cullen (10) v William O'Connor/James Wade
Damon Heta (2) v Ricardo Pietreczko/Nandor Major
Nathan Aspinall (15) v Gian van Veen/Brendan Dolan
Josh Rock (5) v Mike De Decker/Andrew Gilding
Michael Smith (12) v Daryl Gurney/Jose De Sousa
Dirk van Duijvenbode (4) v Scott Williams/Richard Veenstra
Danny Noppert (13) v Vladimir Andersen/Anton Ostlund
Jonny Clayton (8) v Joe Murnan/Jermaine Wattimena
Michael Van Gerwen (9) v Robert Owen/Ross Smith
Dave Chisnall (1) v Andy Boulton/Scott Mitchell
Ryan Searle (16) v Rowby-John Rodriguez/Patrik Kovacs
Dave Chisnall has been in scintillating form on the ProTour and with a favourable second round draw, 'Chizzy' will most definitely fancy his chances in Budapest.
Stephen Bunting played with new darts last week and managed to reach the final of the German Darts Open. With no Krzysztof Ratajski to stop him this week, can 'The Bullet' go all the way?
Predictions
In terms of Grand Prix qualification, I can't see van Veen managing to get past Dolan in what is a tough draw for the 21 year old. To make matters worse, the Dutchman would need to advance to at least the third round for Grand Prix qualification but has World Matchplay champion, Nathan Aspinall waiting on him in the second round, should he beat Dolan.
Read more: The Asp concludes the World Matchplay with a major
While I think Woodhouse will go further than Pietreczko in the tournament, it would take a massive performance from him to take the German's Grand Prix spot as he'd need to reach at least the quarter finals.
Of all the players not to win a ProTour event so far this season, Dirk van Duijvenbode or Damon Heta both have the ability to make it ten winners from twelve.
Overall, I'm backing Luke Humphries go all the way in Hungary. The Englishman has been Mr Consistent so far this year, reaching five finals of ProTour events. Despite this, his only tournament victory came at the European Masters but with the way he's playing, I fancy him to win another before the season ends.
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