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.
AlamyAdrian Lewis is at risk of losing his professional status[/caption]
GettyBarry Hearn has warned him he will not be given special treatment[/caption]
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
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