EVESHAM darts prodigy Mitchell Leeming will play for a place at Alexandra Palace this weekend as he bids for European and world glory.

The 15-year-old De Monfort School pupil is heading to Bristol to compete in Saturday’s European Open and Sunday’s Junior Darts Corporation (JDC)’s World Championship at the Action Indoor Sports Arena, Bristol.

In the world event, Leeming will be hoping to battle through the group stages to reach the last 16.

The finalists then head to the iconic London venue on Tuesday, gaining backstage access to the trappings of life as a PDC star before playing on the same stage as their heroes.

Leeming, who attends a weekly academy at Riley’s, Worcester, qualified as one of eight players through the JDC order of merit and the European and world champions will get a place in next year’s PDC Unicorn World Youth Championship.

“Mitchell has an immense amount of natural ability,” said JDC director of operations and Worcester academy mentor Darren Barson.

“You could say while he is warming up ‘give us a treble 19 and double top’ and he would hit them. It is incredible.

"He is a quiet, calm individual and not overbearing. He is incredibly competitive but plays it in a cool manner and shoots some scores.

“Now he needs to work on his match play and be in this kind of tournament, really test himself among his peers.

“There are a lot of very talented youngsters but Mitchell is probably one of the best we have in this area.

“He is at the age where he is balancing exams and school life and has done that quite sensibly, taking local tournaments and playing for teams where he mixes junior events with going up against adults. He is winning things without overdoing it.

“Provided he gets through the school age, a tricky time for most boys between 15 and 17, I think he will end up getting to the PDC Development Tour.

Barson added that whoever makes it through the Alexandra Palace showpiece would gain potentially life-changing opportunities.

“The children that make the final are going to be picked up, there will be a lot of sponsorship and management proposals,” he said.

“We hand them over to Graham Fairhurst, the PDC tournament director, and they get treated like professional darts players.

“They go backstage with those that are playing that day and get showed everything. It is quite an experience.

“Some of the boys that have been there have gone on to do pretty good things. It is all about opportunities and memories.”