Ross Smith beats Martin Schindler to win second European Championship title

Ross Smith won the European Championship for the second time on Sunday, defeating Germany's Martin Schindler 11-8 in the final in Dortmund. BBC Sport reported that the Englishman resisted a comeback from the home favourite to reclaim a tournament he previously won in 2022, ending a day that also brought a quarter-final defeat for world champion Luke Littler.

Watch the highlights:

Smith took control of the best-of-21-leg final with a run of six consecutive legs that carried him to an 8-2 advantage. Schindler then reduced the deficit to 9-7, putting the result back in contention after Smith's dominant opening. The German could not complete the recovery, however, and Smith secured the two further legs he needed while conceding only one more.

The champion had reached the final by overcoming Luke Woodhouse 10-6 in the quarter-finals and Gerwyn Price 11-7 in the semi-finals. Price had earlier defeated Stephen Bunting 10-3, but his run ended against Smith. Across Sunday's three rounds, Smith therefore beat Woodhouse, Price and Schindler to complete his latest European Championship success.

Schindler's route to the decider began with a 10-1 quarter-final victory over Jonny Clayton. He followed that with an 11-6 win against Krzysztof Ratajski in the last four. Those results put the German into the title match in front of a home crowd, but his fightback against Smith ultimately left him three legs short at the finish.

Ratajski had produced the day's surprise by beating Littler 10-6 in the last quarter-final of the afternoon session. Littler, who has not yet won the European Championship, subsequently said on social media that his performance had not come together that day despite playing well earlier in the event. He also thanked supporters as his wait for this particular title continued.

For Smith, the Dortmund victory followed his World Series of Darts Finals success in September. Speaking to ITV after the final, in remarks carried by BBC Sport, he praised Schindler's persistence and described both his delight and exhaustion at winning another major. The result added a second European Championship crown to his 2022 triumph.