 He succeeds the Czech Republic's Miroslav Navratil who won the previous year's Eastern European qualifier to earn a place in the 2008 World Championship.Navratil then went on to defeat Philippines qualifier Rizal Barellano 5–0 in the preliminary round before losing 3–2 to Andy Jenkins in the first round.Finland qualifier
Marko Kantele will be making his debut at the PDC World Championship (and is Finland's first ever representative in the event) in 2009 having won the Finnish Pro Darts Championship.