8:18 p.m
It’s about to start
John McDonald invites the players onto the stage. Van den Bergh runs in to “Happy” by Pharrell Williams and Hempel, as usual, to “Kölsche Jung”.
8:05 p.m
Dimitri “The Dreammaker” van den Bergh
Van den Bergh, seeded 15th, is taking part in the most important and biggest tournament of the year for the ninth time this year. His greatest World Cup success came at the last event. He made it to the semi-finals and lost 6-0 to Michael van Gerwen. Things didn’t go well for the Dreammaker at the major tournaments this year. At the UK Open and the World Cup of Darts the Belgian made it to the semi-finals and at the World Series of Darts Finals it was over after the quarter-finals. With an annual average of 93.73, he is only in 28th place.
7:55 p.m
Good start
As in his debut in 2022, Hempel will play against van den Bergh in the second round. At that time he surprisingly beat him 3:1. So the Belgian has been warned. Hempel made it into the second round last Sunday with a 3-1 win against Irishman Dylan Slevin. The former handball professional played an average of around 90 points, coupled with a checkout rate of 42 percent. As far as the average points are concerned, an increase is probably needed today. The Cologne native is currently in 65th place in the live ranking and is therefore on the verge of losing his tour card. Since Martijn Kleermaker gave up his card, 65th place was enough to keep it. If Hempel loses, he will have to hope that none of the six players placed behind him will pass him.
7:45 p.m
Welcome
Hello and welcome to the evening session of the 8th matchday of the Darts World Cup. Florian Hempel from Cologne and Dimitri van den Bergh from Belgium will meet at 8:15 p.m.