Announcements

A NUMBER of St Helens darters are among 450 players competing in the 2017 PDC Qualifying School from January 19-22, with 28 PDC Tour Cards on offer across the four days of action at the Robin Park Tennis Centre.

Alan Tabern Jnr and Snr and Eddie and Daniel Dootson, Kevin Garcia will be battling to win a Tour Card to compete as a professional on the PDC ProTour.

A total of 28 Tour Cards will be on offer at the 2017 PDC Qualifying School to create a total of 128 Tour Card Holders for 2017, comprised as follows.

* Top 64 players from the PDC Order of Merit following the completion of the William Hill World Darts Championship.

* 32 2016/2017 Tour Card Holders outside of the world's top 64.

* 2016 PDC Unicorn Challenge Tour top two - Rob Cross & Ryan Searle receive two-year Tour Card.

* 2016 PDC Unicorn Development Tour - Ross Twell & Aden Kirk receive two-year Tour Card (NB Dean Reynolds rejected Tour Card, which was offered to third-placed Aden Kirk).

Each of the four days of play in Wigan will see four players win a Tour Card automatically, with play on each day being down to the last four.

Ranking points will be allocated to other players based on their finishing position to see a further 12 Tour Cards allocated from the Q School Order of Merit following the four days of action.

The field of players for the 2017 PDC Qualifying School includes three-time World Champion John Part and former Players Championship Finals winner Paul Nicholson, who are amongst the players to have dropped out of the world's top 64 in the past year.

Former TV finalists Ronnie Baxter, Mark Dudbridge, Wayne Jones, Barrie Bates, Colin Osborne and Kirk Shepherd are also amongst the entrants, alongside experienced professionals Andy Smith, Steve Hine, Mickey Mansell, Stuart Kellett and Alan Tabern, former World Matchplay champion Peter Evison and former Las Vegas Desert Classic winner Peter Manley.

Former World Youth Champions Arron Monk and James Hubbard are also bidding to win back their Tour Cards alongside 2015 finalist Nathan Aspinall, while 16-year-old Rusty-Jake Rodriguez joins older brother Roxy-James in trying to win a Tour Card alongside a third brother, world number 41 Rowby-John.

Mark Frost, Dragutin Horvat, Boris Koltsov, Zoran Lerchbacher, Kevin Simm and Jerry Hendriks recently competed in the William Hill World Darts Championship, while another Dutchman, Jimmy Hendriks, was knocked out in the preliminary round at the Lakeside Championship.

Former Tour Card Holders bidding to win back their professional status include Germany's Jyhan Artut, Japan's Haruki Muramatsu, Canada's Ken MacNeil, Hong Kong's Ting Chi Royden Lam, Spain's Antonio Alcinas and Gibraltar's Dyson Parody.

Former Lakeside Champion Richie Burnett will also be in action at Qualifying School, having returned from suspension on the PDC Unicorn Challenge Tour in 2016, where he won two tournaments out of 11 during the year.

Results from the 2017 PDC Qualifying School will be available at www.pdc.tv throughout the weekend in Wigan.

2017 PDC Qualifying School Entries Ben Adams, Antonio Alcinas, Nolan Arendse, Jyhan Artut, Dave Askew,Nathan Aspinall, Duvaan Ata, Richard Baillie, Jamie Bain, Jack Bannister,Julio Barbero Gonzalez, Michael Barnard, Hayden Barnes, Keith Bassett,Barrie Bates, Jeff Batham, Max Baulcomb,Mark Baxter, Ronnie Baxter, Andrew Belton, Nigel Birch, Michael Blake, Nicholas Bloor, Nigel Boeg, Danny Bosch, Richard Boucher, Stuart Bousfield, Jordan Boyce, Paddy Boyce, Justin Bradshaw, Kenneth Bramall,Derek Brand, Jamie Branton, Bradley Brooks, Gary Broomhead, Justin Broton, Darren Brown, Jim Brown, John Brown, Steve Brown, John Bryan, Lee Bryant, Michael Burgoine, Trevor Burkhill, Kevin Burness, Richie Burnett, Aubrey Burt, Stephen Burton, Stephen Butkeraitis, Richard Calvert, Allan Candlish, Philip Canty, Ricardo Fernandez Carballo, Francis Carragher, Shaun Carroll, Keith Carter, Simon Cassidy, Matthew Clarke, James Clifton, Daniel Cole, Tony Cole, Paul Cook, Jacob Cooksey, Jamie Cooper, David Copley, Stephen Cotter, Lewis Coult, John Court, Joe Croft, John Crossley, Wayne Crossley, Bobby Crozier, Andrew Currivan, Christopher Dale, Scott Dale, Nigel Daniels, Scott Darbyshire, Joe Davis, Bryan de Hoog, Ryan De Vreede, Nathan Derry, Mark Devon, Marc Dewsbury, Matthias Dietrich, Henry Doherty, Daniel Dootson, Eddie Dootson, Brian Doran, Steve Douglas, Kevin Dowling, Andrew Downs, Mark Dudbridge, Dylan Duo, Stuart Dutton, Pete Dyos, Matthew Edgar, Ritchie Edhouse, Allan Edwards, Andrew Edwards, Lennart Curt Efraimsson, Rene Eidams, Alexander Elia, Nicholas Ellis, Luke Ely, David Evans, Kieran Evans, Steve Evans, Peter Evison, David Fatum, Paul Fellows, Pierre Finck, Peter Fisher, Glenn Fitzpatrick, Dean Forde, Jay Foreman, Mark Forman, Colin Fowler, Mark Frost, Robert Fuller, Samuel Fuller, Nick Fullwell, Dale Gadsby, Billy Gallie, Stephen Gallimore, Kevin Garcia, George Gardner, John Gibson, Craig Gilchrist, Robbie Gorst, Adrian Gray, Taylor Greaves, Sven Groen, Jamie Guilfoyle, Gary Gullan, David Hack, Sheamus Hagan, James Hajdar, Andreas Hajimina, Dorion Hall, Sam Hamilton, Curtis Hammond, Steven Harbert, Stuart Harding, Dan Harrington, Ryan Harrington, Kelvin Hart, Ryan Hart, Chris Hartrey, Paul Harvey, Steve Hattersley, Teuvo Haverinen, Shouichi Hayashi, Lee Hayes, Sam Head, Tom Heldt, Jerry Hendriks, Jimmy Hendriks, Sascha Hertrich, Rob Hewson, Nigel Heydon, Steve Hine, Ashley Holgate, Billy Holmes, Rob Holroyd, Dave Honey, Tim Hope, Chris Hornby, Dragutin Horvat, Andrew Howarth, Richie Howson, James Hubbard, Adam Huckvale, Peter Hudson, Robert Hughes, Thom Humphrey, Luke Humphries, Adam Hunt, Michael Huntley, Ian Hurley, Atif Hussain, Andy Hutchings, Dean Hyde, Mark Hylton, Garath Illidge, Dariusz Imbs, Craig Ingram, Charlie Jackson, Rhys Jackson, Peter Jacques, Alan Jamieson, David Jamieson, Paul Jenkins, Nick Jennings, Prakash Jiwa, Mark Jodrill, Sonny Johal, Andrew Johnson, Darren Johnson, Sean Johnson, Wayne Jones, Jon Jukes, Rhys Julian, Christian Kallinger, Martin Kask, Michael Kavanagh, Danny Kay, Stuart Kellett, Ash Khayatzadeh, George Killington, David King, Steve Kingdon, Boris Koltsov, Arjan Konterman, Karsten Kornath, Maik Kuivenhoven, Dave Ladley, Ting Chi Royden Lam, Jamie Landon, James Lane,Kevin Lane,Maik Langendorf,Liam Last,Mark Lawrence,Roland Lenngren,Steve Lennon,Zoran Lerchbacher,Kai Fan Leung,Ian Lever,Nicholas Lewis,Stephen Limer,Tony Lincoln,Colin Littlecott,Ian Locke,Tom Lonsdale,Callum Loose,Edward Lovely,Jason Lovett,Douglas Low,Jason Lowe,Oskar Lukasiak,Martin Lukeman,Barry Lynn,Stef Macare,Callum Mackay,Ken MacNeil, Alan Magee,Peter Manley,Mickey Mansell,Steven Marfleet,Robert Marijanovic,Fynn Marquardt,Jason Marriott,David Marson,Tony Martin,Dale Masterman,Chris Mathews,Shaun Matthews, Jay McCann,Jim McKevitt,John McCafferty,Josh McCarthy,Kevin McDine,Kevin McDonnell,Tom McIntosh,Kevin McKinney, Steve McNally,Alan McNiven,Neil Meneer,Karl Merchant,Mareno Michels,Paul Milford, Peter Mitchell, Ian Moar, Lee Moffat, Stuart Monaghan, Arron Monk,Matthew Moore, Barry Morgan,John Morris,Lee Morris,Roy Morris,Sandy Morrison,Ian Moss,Jim Moston,Haruki Muramatsu,Jay Murphy,Ryan Murray,Dawson Murschell,Coni Singh Nagi,Eikichi Nakanishi,,Ricky Nathan,David Neale, Scott NewtonPaul Nicholson,John Jnr Norman, Robert Norster, Richard North, Mike Norton,Andy Nye, David O'Donovan,Damien O'Driscoll,Gabriel Florin Olar,Richard Onions,Keita Ono,Colin Osborne, Paul Osmotherley,Matt Padgett, Joey Palfreyman, Ricky Palmer, Richie Parkin, Dyson Parody,Kurt Parry,John Part,Thomas Pavarotti,Tatu Pehkonen, Jesus Noguera Perea, Steve Perkins,Steve Perry,Paul Phillips,Nigel Pinchen, Jose Henrique, Pinto De Sena,Richard Platt,Michael Plooy, Diogo Portela,John Power,Michael Power,Andrew Poynton,Marko Puls,John Purcell,Chris Quantock, Rohit Rabadia,Nathan Rafferty,Dai Randall,Steve Randall,Michael Rasztovits, Madars Razma,David Read, Paul Reeve, Craig Reeves,Michael Regus,Shane Reidy,Lars Reinecke, Richard Betteley,Nathan Richards,Joshua Richardson,Par Riihonen,Ross Rimmer,Greg Ritchie,Terry Roach,Mario Robbe,Jamie Robinson,Reece Robinson,Carlos Rodriguez, Roxy-James Rodriguez, Rusty-Jake Rodriguez,Colin Roelofs, Bernd Roith,Scott Rollings,Paul Rowley,Nigel Russell,Paul Russell,Sean Ryan,Callan Rydz,Warrick Scheffer,Martin Schindler,Roger Scrivens, Connor Scutt,Ron Seddon, Jose Ventura, Seijas Ramos, Ioannis Selachoglou, Laurie Selby, Kelvin Self, Kirk Shepherd, Lee Shewan, Lee Siddle, Eelco Sieperda, Stephen Silver, Kevin Simm, Marco Smit, Andy Smith, Daniel Smith, Justin Smith, Morgan Smith, Paul Smith, Steve Smith, Adam Smith-Neale, Ben Songhurst, Jose Sousa, William Stallard, Mark Stephenson, Aaron Stevens, Evander Stevenson, Dean Stewart, Micky Stocks, Gary Stone, Stuart Stubbs, Stuart Stubbs Snr, Ricky Sudale, Kentaro Suzuki, Charlie Symons, Radoslaw Szaganski, Alan Tabern, Alan Tabern Jnr, Michael Tafner, Scott Taylor, Kevin Thomas, Martin Thomas, Jack Todd, Mick Todd, Emre Toros, Martyn Turner, Willy van de Wiel, Michel van der Horst, Michael Van Dijk, Benjamin van Erven, Carlo van Peer, Kevin Veenstra, Davyd Venken, Wilco Vermeulen, Manuel Vilerio, Jim Walker, Richie Walsh, Ben Ward, Harry Ward, Chris Ware, Lee Watkins, Matthew Watson, Mark Westgarth, Adam Whieldon, Andy White, Chris White, Eddie White, Arron Wike, Alan Wilkinson, Carl Wilkinson, Bradley Williams, Josh Wills, Chris Wilson, David Wilson, Evan Wilson, Jason Wilson, Mark Wilson, Ian Withers, Michael Wood,Luke Woodhouse,Yuki Yamada,James Young.