Name: Co Stompe
Nickname: The Matchstick
Date of birth: 10 September 1962
Place of birth: Amsterdam
Home Town: Amsterdam
Darts Used: 23g Grand Slam
Co joined the PDC in the summer of 2008 following a successful career on the BDO/WDF circuit.
His first ranking titles came in the 1996 and 1997 Spring Cups, which were sandwiched between his first two visits to the Embassy Championship, which ended in round one losses.
He took victory in the 1998 Europe Cup, and achieved his best run in the World Championship by reaching the 2000 semi-finals, losing to Ronnie Baxter.
The Dutchman also reached the quarter-finals of the 2000 World Masters, but after two second round exits in the World Championship he would go on to be a first round casualty from 2003-2006.
The 2003 Finnish Open champion, he broke his run of defeats at Lakeside by knocking out defending champion Jelle Klaasen in the 2007 event, and went on to win the Swiss Open, British Pentathlon and British Classic that year.
A second round loss to Brian Woods in the 2008 Lakeside Championship proved to be his final appearance in that event, as he opted to move onto the PDC circuit in June 2008.
He made an immediate impact by qualifying for the Las Vegas Desert Classic, where he went down to Dennis Priestley in round one.
Stompe also reached the semi-finals of a Players Championship in Wales and the last four of the European Championship qualifiers before picking up his first PDC title.
That came in the German Darts Championship, where he defeated Phil Taylor to take the title and also qualify for the PDC World Championship.
He overcame Andy Jenkins, Alan Tabern and Wayne Mardle to reach the quarter-finals on his Alexandra Palace debut before Taylor exacted revenge in the last eight.
That display took him to the brink of the top 32 on the PDC Order of Merit, and his progression continued in the early part of 2009.
He reached a quarter-final and a semi-final on a PDC Pro Tour weekend in Brentwood, two quarter-finals in Derby and a semi-final of the UK Open Welsh Regional Final in securing qualification for the summer's UK Open and World Matchplay.
Stompe's UK Open debut was ended by Mark Frost in the last 64, while Adrian Lewis ended his Winter Gardens challenge in round one.
He also qualified for the Desert Classic once again, defeating Colin Osborne in round one before losing to fellow countryman Raymond van Barneveld.
