By Alex Moss
9 JUNE 2017 • 1:12PM
Jeffrey Sparidaans will have to battle through a field of more than 200 players in order to retain the Swiss Open in Oberglatt tomorrow.
The Dutchman defeated Belgium’s Geert de Vos in the final 12 months ago to clinch his second BDO ranking title, adding to the Czech Open crown he won at the back end of 2015.
Sparidaans is bidding to become only the fourth player in the event’s 33-year history to retain the title and follow in the footsteps of Steve Brown (1990-91), Scott Mitchell (2009-10) and Remco van Eijden (2013-14).
Last year’s beaten finalist de Vos is among the seeds for the 2017 staging of the tournament and has reached the final in three of the last five years.
De Vos has lost on all three occasions he has reached the final, but will be hoping to go one step better this weekend and become the first Belgian winner of the Swiss Open since his compatriot Frans Devooght won the title back in 1986.
Dutch Open champion Mark McGeeney is the top seed for this year’s Swiss Open, with Jamie Hughes, Ross Montgomery and Dean Reynolds completing the top four seeds in the men’s event.
Recent World Trophy runner-up Martin Phillips, Darius Labanauskas and Willem Mandigers are also scheduled to be in action over the weekend.
Picture: Swiss Darts Association
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