GERMAN DUO COLLIDE AS 2022 EUROPEAN TOUR COMMENCES ON FRIDAY

German duo Gabriel Clemens and Nico Kurz will meet on the opening day of the 2022 Interwetten International Darts Open, with the draw and schedule of play confirmed for the year's first European Tour event.
Three days of double session action will take place from February 25-27 at the Sachsenarena, Riesa, as 48 players will compete for the title and £140,000 in ranking money.
Friday's first round will see German number one Clemens and hot prospect Kurz meet in a repeat of their 2020/21 World Championship contest, with the winner advancing to face Dirk van Duijvenbode in Saturday's last 32.
Round one will also see world number nine Dimitri Van den Bergh and European Champion Rob Cross in action against Martin Lukeman and Krzysztof Kciuk respectively.
Rising star Florian Hempel is one of seven German stars in the field, and he will take on former European Tour event winner Kim Huybrechts in one of the pick of the first round ties.
The experienced Dragutin Horvat and 16-year-old Fabian Schmutzler will also compete on home soil against Simon Whitlock and Daryl Gurney respectively.
The 16 seeded players will enter at the second round stage on Saturday, including the world's top three, Gerwyn Price, Peter Wright and Michael van Gerwen.
Joe Cullen, who was the International Darts Open winner in 2020 when the tournament was most recently held in Riesa, is the top seed going into this year's edition.
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