In a competition in which both darters were sometimes sloppy, Humphries even used only 23 percent of his doubles, it was Van Veen who kept his head Cool. This is in contrast to Cool Hands Luke, with whom the frustration was sometimes clearly visible. Van Veen was constantly the one who took a break ahead and placed the decisive break at 7-7. “This feels like the biggest victory of my career,” said the darter from Poederoijen in the flash interview afterwards.
Later at the press conference he also discussed the frustrations of Humphries. “After my break at 7-7 I started well again. He then grabbed his arrows from his plate after his turn. And if you noticed that to your opponent, that is anger there, then that stress takes away. I said to myself: he is angry, just do what you always do. So then I was very relaxed.”
In the second round, Van Veen takes on compatriot Danny Noppert. He won 10-2 against the Scot Cameron Menzies. That is why the Dutch success was great on Saturday, because the other Dutchman – Wessel Nijman – also achieved a great victory. He put Nathan Aspinall 10-6 over the knee.
Which Dutch people are still taking action?
On Sunday Dirk van Duijvenbode (Rob Cross) and Jermaine Wattimena (Peter Wright) will still take action. On Monday the most famous two Dutch darters Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld compete against each other.