Bradford thrower Joe Cullen thumped by Dutchman in Germany

The ranking major was being held in Dortmund at the Westfalenhallen Exhibition Centre, with Cullen handed a tricky opening tie against Danny Noppert.

The Dutchman is playing well at the moment, but both he and his Bradford rival had to wait in Germany, with theirs being the final first-round game of the tournament.

Noppert got off to a bright start to move into a 2-0 lead, but Cullen fought back and was right in the game at 3-2 down.

But the Dutchman found a second wind, winning the next three legs to wrap up a routine 6-2 win.

Danny Noppert consoles Joe Cullen after the pair's one-sided match in Dortmund at the 2024 European Championship. (Image: Kelly Deckers/PDC.)

It was a disappointing display from Cullen, the Wyke man averaging a miserable 80.88 across the match’s eight legs.

Even more tellingly, he had 11 attempts at double, only one less than Noppert, but he nailed just two of them.

The only real highlight from Cullen came in leg five, when he landed a magnificent 108 checkout with Noppert poised to break throw while sat on 96.

The Dutchman was not at his best in that encounter either, only averaging 90.51 himself, but he really hit his straps in his next game, a 10-6 last-16 win over World Grand Prix champion Mike de Decker.

Noppert averaged over 100 in that game, and repeated the trick in his high-quality 10-9 victory over Ricardo Pietreczko in the quarter-finals.

But Noppert bowed out in the semi-finals to fellow Dutchman Jermaine Wattimena, leading to a surprise final between the latter and Ritchie Edhouse.

Wattimena’s best previous effort at a major was a quarter-final appearance at the 2019 World Grand Prix, while Edhouse had never even reached the last-16 at a major before.

It was the Englishman who emphatically came out on top in the final, as he dismantled Wattimena 11-3 in the final to take home the trophy.