Monk & Cullen Secure Final Places

Arron Monk and Joe Cullen have secured the final two places in the 2012 Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship at Monday's PDPA Qualifier in Wigan.

The two youngsters will join 70 other players at Alexandra Palace next month for the PDC showpiece.

In the final of the qualifier, Monk (21) beat Cullen (22) 5-3 to claim a place in the first round of the World Championship, whilst Cullen will now make his second appearance at the event in the preliminary round stage.

Monk, who captured the 2011 PDC Under-21 World Championship title at Alexandra Palace, said: "It's feel great to qualify today and play against the senior players on such a big stage like Alexandra Palace.

"I was 4-1 up in the final and then things started to slip a little and Joe took the next two legs. But I held my throw in the next and I'm so pleased to have done that.
Hard work

"I felt I could go far today as I have been playing well recently. I've practised over four hours everyday for the last few weeks, and the hard work has paid off!"

But it was a day of contrasting emotions for the Monk family as Arron's father, veteran professional Colin, was knocked out of the event after losing his first round match to Chris Aubrey.

His son Arron beat Mareno Michels, Prakash Jiwa and Adrian Gray, Nick Fulwell and Chris Thompson to reach the final, while Cullen saw off John Walton, Martyn Turner, Mark Lawrence, Tony Ayres - and also former world champion Dennis Priestley in a dramatic encounter where he came from 4-0 down to win 5-4 - before falling at the final hurdle against Monk.

Former World Championship finalists Peter Manley and Kirk Shepherd and four-time semi-finalist Wayne Mardle will not be playing in London after crashing out, while other early casualties included Barrie Bates, Kevin McDine, Steve Hine, and Steve Maish, who all played on the Alexandra Palace stage 12 months ago.