Five-time World Darts Champion Raymond van Barneveld has completed his comeback after securing a Tour Card at European Qualifying School to seal a return to the PDC circuit just 14 months after retiring.
Van Barneveld was up against Martin Schindler – who hit a nine darter against the Dutch man – but it was the 53-year-old who arose victorious.
BARNEY. IS. 𝘽𝘼𝘾𝙆! 👁🐅
Raymond van Barneveld has regained his PDC Tour Card!
The Dutchman’s latest win at European Q School means his place in the qualification places is secure. pic.twitter.com/LOFrTgKahM
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) February 17, 2021
Photo courtesy of PDC Darts via Twitter
The much loved van Barneveld will return to the PDC Tour this season just over a year after he decided to initially retire from competitive darts reports Sky Sports.
In November 2018, Van Barneveld announced his intention to retire from darts after the 2020 PDC World Darts Championship.
On March 28th 2019, following a 7–1 defeat to Michael van Gerwen in his final Premier League match, he announced his retirement with immediate effect, but reversed his decision the following day.
Van Barneveld did eventually walk away from the sport after the 2020 World Championship, in which he suffered a shock first-round loss to Darin Young.
His 6-4 victory over beat 9 darter hero Schindler will be greatly received by the darts community particularly the Dutch mans cult following the ‘Barney Army.’