The German trio is still a duo. After Martin Schindler, Florian Hempel also reached the second round of the Players Championship Finals in Minehead, England. Gabriel Clemens, however, was eliminated at the start on Friday.
The major tournament at the end of the season, which is also a dress rehearsal for the World Darts Championship starting on December 15th, was overshadowed by a doping case. Dom Taylor, who qualified for the tournament for the best 64 players in the Players Championship tournaments for the first time, was excluded immediately before the first matches began. As the Darts Regulation Authority (DRA) announced, the 26-year-old Englishman had a positive drug test. It is still uncertain what punishment the number 80 in the world rankings will receive for the offense and what impact it will have on the Darts World Cup.
Nick Kenny, number 65 in the Players Championship rankings, managed to get into the field of participants at short notice and could have collected important prize money to maintain his extremely endangered tour card. The Welshman almost managed a surprise against Michael Smith. In the end he narrowly lost 5:6.
The “Bully Boy” achieved one of the few expected victories of this memorable first round. After the previous major tournaments had already been accompanied by numerous surprises, there was now a big death of favorites in Minehead. Nine professionals from the top 16 in the world rankings will no longer be there on Saturday.
Hempel beats Clayton
Michael van Gerwen, Dimitri van den Bergh, Peter Wright and number one seed Chris Dobey were all eliminated 1:6. Record winner van Gerwen was completely unexpectedly defeated by old champion Ian White and thus stumbled in round one for the first time since 2011.
Stephen Bunting won two legs against the Belgian Mario van den Bogaerde. Gary Anderson and Gerwyn Price also lost at the start, as did Gian van Veen, James Wade and Ryan Searle. Rob Cross even suffered a 6-0 defeat – albeit against top favorite Luke Littler. The 17-year-old prodigy threw an average of 112.73, the second highest scoring average ever played in tournament history.
And the Germans also threw in a surprise. While Gabriel Clemens lost, as expected, 2:6 against world champion Luke Humphries, Florian Hempel threw Jonny Clayton out of the tournament. The Cologne native defeated the world number seven 6:3. Hempel will face Dutchman Dirk van Duijvenbode in round two on Saturday around 3:30 p.m. (DAZN live).
Martin Schindler also has a good chance of reaching the round of 16. In his opener against Northern Irishman Brendan Dolan, he got the break he needed in 17 darts on double 20 to make it 3-2 and then didn’t give up another leg. It wasn’t a brilliant performance, but after he was eliminated from the Grand Slam a week and a half ago with a strong 109 average, an average of 83.91 points and 46 percent darts hit on doubles were enough for him against the “History Maker”.
Schindler probably registered favorably on Friday evening with all the falls of the favorites. Instead of facing Gary Anderson, who has recently been in strong form, the German number one will face Ryan Meikle at around 5:30 p.m.
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.
Players Championship Finals, results
1. Round
Gian van Veen (NED) – Scott Williams (ENG) 5:6
Brendan Dolan (NIR) – Martin Schindler (D) 2:6
Ritchie Edhouse (ENG) – Luke Woodhouse (ENG) 6:5
James Wade (ENG) – Stephen Burton (ENG) 4:6
Ryan Searle (ENG) – Jeffrey de Graaf (SWE) 5:6
Martin Lukeman (ENG) – Connor Scutt (ENG) 4:6
Dave Chisnall (ENG) – Joe Cullen (ENG) 6:1
Andrew Gilding (ENG) – Kevin Doets (NED) 6:3
William O’Connor (IRL) – Niels Zonneveld (NED) 3:6
Krzysztof Ratajski (POL) – Madars Razma (LAT) 6:4
Cameron Menzies (SCO) – Jim Williams (WAL) 6:2
Dirk van Duijvenbode (NED) – Callan Rydz (ENG) 6:1
Ryan Joyce (ENG) – Karel Sedlacek (CZE) 6:4
Wesley Plaisier (NED) – Mensur Suljovic (AUT) 6:4
Alan Soutar (SCO) – Jermaine Wattimena (NED) 4:6
Wessel Nijman (NED) – Kim Huybrechts (BEL) 1:6
Daryl Gurney (NIR) – Peter Wright (SCO) 6:1
Gerwyn Price (WAL) – Thibault Tricole (FRA) 4:6
Chris Dobey (ENG) – Nathan Aspinall (ENG) 1:6
Michael van Gerwen (NED) – Ian White (ENG) 1:6
Luke Littler (ENG) – Rob Cross (ENG) 6:0
Luke Humphries (ENG) – Gabriel Clemens (D) 6:2
Gary Anderson (SCO) – Ryan Meikle (ENG) 5:6
Damon Heta (AUS) – Mervyn King (ENG) 6:1
Jonny Clayton (WAL) – Florian Hempel (D) 3:6
Danny Noppert (NED) – James Hurrell (ENG) 6:5
Raymond van Barneveld (NED) – Chris Landman (NED) 6:2
Stephen Bunting (ENG) – Mario Vandenbogaerde (BEL) 2:6
Mike De Decker (BEL) – Richard Veenstra (NED) 6:1
Michael Smith (ENG) – Nick Kenny (WAL) 6:5
Josh Rock (NIR) – Ricky Evans (ENG) 6:1
Ross Smith (ENG) – Dimitri van den Bergh (BEL) 6:1
2. Round
Cameron Menzies (SCO) – Ryan Joyce (ENG)
Kim Huybrechts (BEL) – Scott Williams (ENG)
Dave Chisnall (ENG) – Andrew Gilding (ENG)
Nathan Aspinall (ENG) – Niels Zonneveld (NED)
Damon Heta (AUS) – Krzysztof Ratajski (POL)
Jeffrey de Graaf (SWE) – Thibault Tricole (FRA)
Daryl Gurney (NIR) – Michael Smith (ENG)
Florian Hempel (D) – Dirk van Duijvenbode (NED)
Mario Vandenbogaerde (BEL) – Connor Scutt (ENG)
Raymond van Barneveld (NED) – Luke Humphries (ENG)
Danny Noppert (NED) – Stephen Burton (ENG)
Josh Rock (NIR) – Jermaine Wattimena (NED)
Luke Littler (ENG) – Ritchie Edhouse (ENG)
Mike De Decker (BEL) – Ian White (ENG)
Martin Schindler (D) – Ryan Meikle (ENG)
Ross Smith (ENG) – Wesley Plaisier (NED)
