Suffolk’s Mervyn King, Stephen Burton and Ryan Meikle have qualified for the HappyBet German Darts Championship, which will be played later this month.

Ipswich’s King headlined the 18 UK Qualifiers on Friday in Barnsley, as fellow Suffolk player, Rendlesham barber Meikle landed a nine-dart finish.

The UK Qualifier saw 80 players competing for spots in the year’s first £135,000 European Tour event, which will be held in Hildesheim from March 24-26.

Experienced star King, a European Tour winner in 2014, defeated South Africa’s Warrick Scheffer and Rob Cross as he secured his spot in the Hildesheim event.

To complete an excellent night for Suffolk, Ipswich’s Burton, who won a Tour Card in January, enjoyed success in his first European Tour Qualifier with wins over James Wilson and Simon Stevenson.

Former World Championship finalists Kevin Painter and Kirk Shepherd defeated John Henderson and Dennis Smith in their respective deciders.

The night was a memorable one for Meikle, the Suffolk left-hander who hit a nine-dart finish during a narrow win over Robbie Green before qualifying in a deciding leg against Darron Brown.

Scotland’s Jamie Bain and Ireland’s Mick McGowan also went the distance in their deciding matches, against Nathan Aspinall and Darren Webster respectively.

Brazil’s Diogo Portela defeated Andy Hamilton, Simon Preston and Justin Pipe to earn his European Tour debut alongside Ryan Searle and Chris Quantock, who have both stepped up from the PDC Unicorn Challenge Tour.

Darren Johnson knocked out ex-European Tour winner Steve Beaton in their decider, while David Pallett, Adam Hunt, Paul Harvey and Richie Corner also qualified.

Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski and Finland’s Veijo Viinikka came through the respective East Europe Qualifier and PDCNB Qualifiers, with the final field for the German Darts Championship to be confirmed on March 23.

The HappyBet German Darts Championship will be streamed for PDCTV-HD Subscribers via www.livepdc.tv, and through a series of bookmakers’ websites from March 24-26.