Berliner wins opening match
“Pikachu” defies “extreme” problems at the Darts World Cup
Updated 12/17/2025 – 12:09 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
Ricardo Pietreczko suddenly has circulatory problems in his opening game, but still fights through against a former top 10 player.
Despite health problems, Ricardo Pietreczko became the fourth German player to reach the second round of the Darts World Cup. In his opening game on the sixth day of the tournament in London’s Alexandra Palace, the Berlin native won 3-1 sets against former major winner José de Sousa from Portugal after suffering circulatory problems. Pietreczko will next face England’s Fallon Sherrock or her compatriot Dave Chisnall.
“In the middle of the third set I suddenly had extreme circulatory problems and my vision was black,” said “Pikachu” on the Sport1 microphone. Pietreczko explained that he was a little hypoglycemic, and there was also the heat on stage: “I’m going to eat a chocolate bar first and then we’ll see if it gets better. Then I’ll go to the hotel and go to sleep quickly.”
Pietreczko, who reached the round of 16 last year, could rely on his double strength. In the first two sets, the world number 33 remained strong in the deciding leg. Pietreczko gave up the third round, but then he found his game again and converted his third match dart.
As a result of the first round exit, the fallen former top 10 player de Sousa, who won the Grand Slam in 2020 and was in the Premier League final the following year, loses his tour card.
So far, from a German perspective, only Lukas Wenig has been eliminated in the first round; in addition to Pietreczko, Arno Merk, Gabriel Clemens and Max Hopp also progressed. Niko Springer could join them late in the evening; the highly gifted Mainz player will face Australian Joe Comito in the last game of the session (around 11:10 p.m./Sport1 and DAZN).
German number one Martin Schindler faces Englishman Stephen Burton on Wednesday evening. Debutant Dominik Grüllich is the last participant from Germany to enter the XXL tournament on Thursday evening against the Dutchman Jermaine Wattimena.
The Welshman Gerwyn Price had little trouble at the start. The 2021 world champion beat Czech Adam Gawlas 3-0 and was in good form. Danny Noppert, number six in the world, was only briefly in trouble against his Dutch compatriot Jurjen van der Velde in the 3-1 win.