Barry Hearn tells Adrian Lewis he will receive no special favours with darts star set to lose professional status
ADRIAN LEWIS will receive no special favours or wildcards after losing his darts Tour Card.
Jackpot is one of the sport’s greatest players – he has one of the smoothest throws around – and is well-respected among his peers.
Yet he has not appeared in a TV tournament since the UK Open in March 2023 and has generally been inactive during weekly events.
He is also not part of the 96-player field for the PDC World Darts Championship, which starts next Sunday at Ally Pally.
Personal problems have meant he has not been so dedicated or focused on life on the oche and come the New Year, he will no longer be a professional player.
Given that he is a two-time world darts champion and four-time World Cup winner alongside England teammate Phil Taylor, some might argue that he deserves a freebie for the 2025 season.
That is not going to happen, according to sports promoter Barry Hearn, who says Lewis, 39, must go through Q School like everybody else and there will be no rule-bending.
A qualifying event involving 100s of amateurs – those chasing the dream and wanting to emulate Luke Littler or Luke Humphries – will be staged at Milton Keynes’ Arena MK between January 6-12.
Asked if there would be any special dispensation given the circumstances, Hearn, 76, told SunSport: “Absolutely none. Nor can they be.
“It’s not about what you used to do – it’s about what you can do.
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“Does he have to go through Q School? Yeah. We’d welcome him back with open arms.
“He’s a great lad and a great player. He has had his own personal problems.
“Which he has to come to terms with.
“But they are not our problems, they are his problems and it is up to him to solve them.”
The Barry Hearn Show is available on all podcast platforms – with exclusive video episodes on Spotify.
Darts World Championship full draw
Second round draw (seeded vs first-round winner)
- Luke Humphries vs Thibault Tricole or Joe Comito
- Raymond van Barneveld vs Nick Kenny or Stowe Buntz
- James Wade vs Jermaine Wattimena or Stefan Bellmont
- Peter Wright vs Wesley Plaisier or Ryusei Azemoto
- Stephen Bunting vs Alan Soutar or Kai Gotthardt
- Dirk van Duijvenbode vs Madars Ramza or Christian Kist
- Damon Heta vs Connor Scutt or Ben Robb
- Mike De Decker vs Luke Woodhouse or Lourence Ilagan
- Luke Littler vs Ryan Meikle or Fallon Sherrock
- Ritchie Edhouse vs Ian White or Sandro Eric Sosing
- Danny Noppert vs Ryan Joyce or Darius Labanauskas
- Ryan Searle vs Mensur Suljovic or Matt Campbell
- Rob Cross vs Scott Williams or Niko Springer
- Gian van Veen vs Ricardo Pietreczko or Xiaochen Zong
- Nathan Aspinall vs Cameron Menzies or Leonard Gates
- Andrew Gilding vs Martin Lukeman or Nitin Kumar
- Michael Smith vs Kevin Doets or Noa-Lynn van Leuven
- Krzysztof Ratajski vs Richard Veenstra or Alexis Toylo
- Chris Dobey vs Stephen Burton or Alexander Merkx
- Josh Rock vs Karel Sedlacek or Rhys Griffin
- Jonny Clayton vs Mickey Mansell or Tomoya Goto
- Daryl Gurney vs Florian Hempel or Jeffrey de Zwaan
- Gerwyn Price vs Kim Huybrechts or Keane Barry
- Joe Cullen vs Wessel Nijman or Cameron Carolissen
- Michael van Gerwen vs James Hurrell or Jim Long
- Brendan Dolan vs Chris Landman or Lok Yin Lee
- Gary Anderson vs Jeffrey de Graaf or Rashad Sweeting
- Ross Smith vs Jim Williams or Paolo Nebrida
- Dave Chisnall vs Ricky Evans or Gordon Mathers
- Gabriel Clemens vs Niels Zonneveld or Robert Owen
- Dimitri Van den Bergh vs William O’Connor or Dylan Slevin
- Martin Schindler vs Callan Rydz or Romeo Grbavac