Person attributes
The Belgian Mario Vandenbogaerde has been in the darts business for a long time, but he has only really started since 2018. At the 2002 Antwerp Open, Vandenbogaerde reached the last eight, where he lost to Ronnie Baxter. A year later, he took part in the WDF World Cup for the first time, where he lost his opening match against Raymond van Barneveld. He competed regularly at the World Masters from 2003 to 2005, but never made it past the round of 128. In 2004, he finished in the last 32 at the WDF Europe Cup, and also reached the semifinals of the Belgium Open. After Vandenbogaerde was able to secure the Belgian championship title in 2005, he took a break from darts for the first time. A little out of nowhere, he then returned in 2018 with the final participation at the Belfry Open, where Jim Williams proved to be too strong. Two months later, however, the Belgian won the Luxembourg Masters and narrowly missed out on the title at the Antwerp Open. Vandenbogaerde could not qualify for the BDO World Championship, but at the World Masters it went to the last eight. In the final of the Italian Grand Masters, he narrowly lost to Wesley Harms 4:6, and in 2019, with the victory at the German Open in Kalkar, he followed his greatest career success to date. Vandenbogaerde also delivered consistently good performances afterwards and was therefore also present at the BDO World Trophy for the first time. At the start, he did not give Danish Brian Løkken a chance, but then lost to compatriot Roger Janssen in the round of eight. At the 2019 World Masters, Vandenbogaerde reached the semifinals, where he lost to the eventual winner John O'Shea.
In January 2020, the Belgian made his debut at the BDO World Championship, which began successfully with a 3:0 over Pole Sebastian Steyer. Vandenbogaerde also lost only one set against Dennie Olde Kalter before a 5-3 victory in the quarterfinals over David Evans followed. In the semifinals, however, the Belgian had to admit defeat with 4: 6 against Jim Williams. At the Dutch Open, he reached the eighth round before he also tried it for the first time at the Q-School. In mid-October, the Belgian was able to qualify for his first European Tour event with the International Darts Open. There he had to admit defeat in Round 1 with 1: 6 against Ross Smith. In 2021, the Q-School was again unsuccessful, followed by a year with only a few good results. In December, the Belgian qualified for the WDF World Championship 2022 via the qualifier. In mid-January, however, he got the tour card with very consistent performances at the Q-School in Niedernhausen. All the more surprising was his first-round exit at the UK Open after a poor performance. His second European Tour appearance in Hildesheim was also finished after round 1. Even in Zwolle, he did not get beyond his first match. In April, Vandenbogaerde made it to a quarter-final on the Pro Tour for the first time.
