In the fourth leg he seemed to be on the right track. The first 180 briefly raised his point average to 111. Everything fell into place after Martin Schindler quickly countered the loss of serve at the start and took a 2-1 lead in twelve darts with a high finish of 126.
But the German missed a possible 3-1 win against Cameron Menzies in his first group match at the 18th Grand Slam of Darts. And in leg number five, “The Wall” also missed four darts when checking out, so that the Scot now came into the match, used the mistakes to make it 3:2 and shortly afterwards checked in eleven darts to make it 4:2. A trend that he confirmed shortly afterwards with the final break for a 5-2 win. Schindler’s success rate of 16.7 percent on the doubles cost him the victory he had hoped for at the start.
The 28-year-old is already under pressure in his two further Group B matches on Sunday afternoon and Monday evening. The opponent is the best woman in the world, Beau Greaves, and the Dutchman Danny Noppert, who confidently fulfilled his duty with a 5-2 win against the Englishwoman.
Only the first and second in the group qualify for the round of 16 of the major tournament, in which the 32 winners and finalists of various PDC tournaments play for the winner’s prize money of 150,000 pounds.
Five weeks before the start of the Darts World Championship, Conor Scutt, who qualified as the winner of the second-class PDC Cahellenger Tour, was the man of the first match day. The Englishman sent his favorite compatriot Dave Chisnall off the stage 5-0. Peter Wright, a second player, even received a whitewash. The Scottish world champion lost 0:5 against Martin Lukeman. The highest average of the day was played by Gian van Veen, who averaged 110.39 points per shot in a 5-2 win against Josh Rock.
If Lutz Wöckener isn’t just anyone Sport in self-experimentation tried it out, he writes about darts and sports politics, but sometimes also something off-kilter like football.
Grand Slam of Darts, groups
Group A
Luke Humphries (ENG)
James Wade (ENG)
Mickey Mansell (NIR)
Rowby-John Rodriguez (AUT)
Group B
Danny Noppert (NED) – Beau Greaves (ENG) 5:2
Martin Schindler (D) – Cameron Menzies (SCO) 2:5
1. Cameron Menzies (SCO) +3 Legs 1 Sieg
1. Danny Noppert (NED) +3 1
3. Beau Greaves (ENG) -3 0
3. Martin Schindler (D) -3 0
Group C
Rob Cross (ENG) – Leonard Gates (USA) 5:2
Peter Wright (SCO) – Martin Lukeman (ENG) 0:5
1. Martin Lukeman (ENG) +5 1
2. Rob Cross (ENG) +3 1
3. Leonard Gates (USA) -3 0
4. Peter Wright (SCO) -5 0
Group D
Dave Chisnall (ENG) – Connor Scutt (ENG) 0:5
1. Connor Scutt (ENG) +5 1
2. Ross Smith (ENG)
2. Ritchie Edhouse (ENG)
4. Dave Chisnall (ENG) -5 0
Group E
Michael Smith (ENG)
Mike de Decker (BEL)
Germanie Wattimena (NED)
Mensur Suljovic (AUT)
Group F
Dimitri van den Bergh (BEL)
Luke Littler (ENG)
Keane Barry (IRL)
Lawrence Ilagan (PHI)
Group G
Michael van Gerwen (NED)
GHary Anderson (SCO)
Ryan Joyce (ENG)
Noa-Lynn van Leuven
Group H
Stephen Bunting (ENG) – Wessel Nijman (NED) 5:4
Josh Rock (NIR) – Gian van Veen (NED) 2:5
1. Gian van Veen (NED) +3 1
2. Stephen Bunting (ENG) +1 1
3. Wessel Nijman (NED) -1 0
4. Josh Rock -3 0
