Barney Did poor preparation for the tournament in Amsterdam: this week he flew out in the two floor tournaments in Hildesheim both times in the second round. Time for revenge in -house, he must have thought.
For a long time it didn’t look like that. Dekker won the first leg and in the continuation of the game it went around. Then again Dekker, then again from Barneveld, who seemed to come in better during the competition. After a number of lesser throws, he had to laugh after an 180 and 140’er, although the shaking head was already back after a missed double.
Comeback from Barneveld
After a great finish with twice triple twenty and double 18 came Barney Again at the same height. The eighth leg seemed to be the breaking point for Van Barneveld, when Dekker went to 5-3, but nothing turned out to be true. The Norwegian did not finish the job and collapsed under the pressure. The 58-year-old Dutch dart legend survived six (!) Matchdarts and eventually returned to 5-5. When the five -fold world champion threw an 180 -year in the eleventh leg, and with a double 8 the pot decided, the audience, which Dekker was constantly raging, went completely raging.
Van Barneveld’s opponent becomes Gerwyn Price. He defeated Danny Lauby on Saturday with 6-1. Price (40) had an excellent preparation by reaching the final twice in both floor tournaments in Hildesheim, one of which he won. Luke Littler (18) also comes into action for the first time on Saturday afternoon. The number two in the world defends his title in Amsterdam, which he won last year by beating Michael Smith.
Second round starts on Saturday evening
The first part of the first round was already finished on Friday evening. Then five of the six Dutch participants already came into action. Michael van Gerwen defeated Darttalent Wessel Nijman in a blood-curdling struggle (6-5) in which both darters were matched and noted any average above 100. No fewer than ten 180 people were thrown. Mighty Mike Decided the pot with a double 18 and will face Rob Cross on Saturday evening around 8:30 PM.
Michael van Gerwen flies daughter Zoë (8) in the arms after winning in a blood -curdling game with Wessel Nijman: ‘She wanted to come along’
In another Dutch gathering, Kevin Doets managed to win with the same final result of his best friend and countryman Jermaine Wattimena. A tough job against Luke Humphries, the number one in the world, is waiting for him on Saturday evening. Danny Noppert surprised against the first-placed Stephan Bunting (4-6). The 34-year-old Fries faces Josh Rock on Saturday.
The quarterfinals, semi -final and final will be finished on Sunday. The total prize pool of the event, which is being held in Amsterdam for the fifth time in a row, is around 462,000 euros.