PDC tour to resume in July behind closed doors

Nathan Aspinall made a trophy out of a dinner plate to celebrate winning the recent PDC Home Tour title

The PDC tour will resume behind closed doors with five one-day Players Championship events from 8-12 July.

The venue for the Summer Series will be the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes, which hosted the recent Championship League snooker tournament.

All 128 tour card holders will be able to take part subject to government quarantine rules on overseas visitors.

Non-ranking events for the same dates will be run for non-UK players unable to travel to the series, the PDC says.

The recent PDC Home Tour, which featured more than 100 tour card holders filmed at home on their mobile phones, was set up after events were cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

"Prior to the Home Tour, I outlined the three-stage plan for the return of darts, starting with events played remotely, followed by events played behind closed doors, before events can be played in front of crowds," said PDC chairman Barry Hearn.

"I am delighted that we are now able to move on to the second stage of that plan, and hopefully we will be able to safely welcome crowds back to our events in the not-too-distant future.

"We appreciate the patience of our players in recent weeks as we worked to secure these events, and further details will be confirmed to them in due course."