Stefaan Deprez (born 22 June 1972) is a Belgian professional darts player who plays in the World Darts Federation (WDF) events. His best achievement so far has been an advance to the BDO World Trophy quarter-finals and the Dutch Open semi-finals. He has represented Belgium twice during the WDF World Cup and WDF Europe Cup tournaments.

Stefaan Deprez
Personal information
Nickname"The Flaming Fleming"
Born (1972-06-22) 22 June 1972 (age 52)
Antwerp, Belgium
Home townAntwerp, Belgium
Darts information
Playing darts since2001
Darts22g
LateralityRight-handed
Walk-on music"Let's Get Rocked" by Def Leppard
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO2001–2018
PDC2019
WDF2001–2018, 2022–
Current world ranking263 New entry (14 November 2023)[1]
WDF major events – best performances
World MastersLast 48: 2013, 2014
World TrophyQuarter Final: 2015
Dutch OpenSemi Final: 2018

Career

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Deprez made his first participation in an international tournament in 2001 during Belgium Open. Despite achieving a good result, he decided not to develop darts and focused on his job. He returned to the international arena in 2006 during the Sunparks Masters and in 2008 he took part in the Spring Cup and the Antwerp Open. Since 2009, he has taken part in the World Masters tournament seven times. He achieved the best results in the 2013 World Masters and 2014 World Masters. In 2010, he became the runner-up in Belgium Championship.[2]

In the same period, he went abroad much more often to take part in other international tournaments and climb the ranking of the British Darts Organisation. During this period, he became in the quarter-finals of the Dortmund Open, reached the semi-finals in the Tops of Ghent, played in the Swiss Open final and passed the quarter-finals at the Swedish Open and French Open. In 2014, he won the qualification for the 2015 BDO World Trophy.[3]

During the tournament itself, he was in very good shape. He defeated Tony O'Shea in the first round without any problems. In the second round, he defeated Jamie Hughes, who was seeded number five. In the quarter-finals he faced eventual finalist Jeffrey de Graaf and lost to him by 5–8 in legs.[4] After his success, he took part in many international tournaments, which allowed him to move up to 32nd place in the British Darts Organisation ranking. During the 2015 Winmau World Masters he started seeded, but he has already lost his first duel.

In October 2015, he was selected for the Belgium national team during the 2015 WDF World Cup. In singles competition he beat Brian Løkken in the first round by 0–4 in legs, but lost in the second round to Daniel Larsson by 1–4 in legs.[5] In the pairs competition, he reached the quarter-final.[6] In the following years, he appeared abroad less often. In 2018, however, he advanced to the semi-finals at the Dutch Open. On his way to the final phase, he defeated Ross Montgomery, Wessel Nijman, Darius Labanauskas and Jim Williams. Finally, he lost to Mark McGeeney by 0–2 in sets.[7]

In 2019, he only participated in Professional Darts Corporation tournaments for non-card players.[8] Due to the coronavirus pandemic, he decided to abandon further involvement in Professional Darts Corporation and for two years he did not participate in any international tournaments. In 2022, he took part in the Belgium Open. Thanks to the results at home competitions, he was selected for the first time to represent Belgium at the 2022 WDF Europe Cup.[9]

Performance timeline

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Tournament 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
WDF Ranked televised events
World Masters 1R 1R 2R 2R 4R 4R 1R DNQ NH
World Trophy NH DNQ QF DNQ NH
Dutch Open DNP 6R DNP SF DNP NH DNP

References

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  1. ^ "WDF Men's Rankings Table". WDF. 14 November 2023. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  2. ^ "Stefaan Deprez". dartsdatabase.co.uk. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  3. ^ "Review: BDO World Trophy Qualifiers". skiddle.com. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  4. ^ "Stefaan Deprez". mastercaller.com. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  5. ^ "WDF World Cup Men Singles 2015". World Darts Federation. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  6. ^ "WDF World Cup Men Pairs 2015". World Darts Federation. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  7. ^ "2018 Dutch Open Results". dartsdatabase.co.uk. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  8. ^ "PDC Challenge Tour 3 Update: Gilding, Hamilton and Edhouse into Quarter-Finals". dartsnews.com. 27 January 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  9. ^ "WDF Europe Cup 2022 - Spain". World Darts Federation. Retrieved 22 September 2022.