The spectacle begins on Thursday in “Ally Pally”, the place of longing for all darts players. At the World Cup, Martin Schindler, a Hesse resident by choice, wants to do something he has never managed to do in his life. Two days before the big darts event, the 26-year-old also experienced a miracle called Hailey.
Martin Schindler is 100% concentrated in front of the now beginning Darts World Championship in London Not. No wonder. The distraction couldn’t be more important or nicer: On Tuesday, just two days before the World Cup, Schindler became a father. His wife Denise gave birth to their baby daughter Hailey. What timing.
From now on, Hailey is Schindler’s lucky charm, especially from Thursday, of course, when the Darts World Cup begins in the venerable Alexandra Palace (“Ally Pally”) in London. It starts with Peter Wright (the one with the Mohawk hairstyle), Schindler is allowed – what luck – to spend a few more days with his daughter and wife at home. Only then does it start for him. From the magic of Hailey’s birth to the spectacle of the Darts World Cup, with top sporting performances, shrill fan disguises, a roaring party and loud fan chants.
The darn first World Cup match for the new Hessen
“The Ally Pally just has such a brilliant atmosphere that can’t really be described in words. I’ve played everywhere, but it’s just always different there,” described World Cup starter Schindler in an interview with hr-sport at the beginning of December . Even if the family is – understandably – not in the hall, the new father will not be alone. Every year, thousands of darts fans from Germany travel to the big event in London.
Schindler is now Hesse, moved from Brandenburg to Rodgau-Jügesheim in 2021. Because of his girlfriend Denise, whom he married last summer. “The people in Rodgau just gave me a really good reception, it gives me a good, homely feeling.” But Schindler is now all too happy to leave his new home for London. Because in “Ally Pally” Schindler still has a huge score to settle.
Formally strong Schindler at the Darts World Cup only required from round two
Three Germans made it to the Darts World Cup. Gabriel Clemens from Saarlouis, Florian Hempel from Cologne and Schindler, who is currently showing the strongest performances of the trio. Schindler is a strong 29th in the world rankings. The 26-year-old owes this to the fact that he only has to start in the second round of the World Cup this time.
Schindler has competed in the Ally Pally three times so far. He was thrown out three times in the first lap. At least that can’t happen to him this year. But Schindler wants to fulfill his first little dream with his first World Cup victory: “I really have an unfinished business there. I hope that this time things will be different than in previous years.”
Schindler musically of the very hard kind
Shortly before Christmas, on December 23, Schindler will enter the seething hall of the Alexandra Palace for the first time at this World Cup. To the sounds of “Another Brick in the Wall”, his new warm-up song. Not the original by Pink Floyd, but the cover version by metal band Korn. Last year, Schindler had Rammstein’s “Ich will” recorded in “Ally Pally”. The 26-year-old likes it rough. The current song makes sense. Like all darts professionals, Schindler has a nickname: The Wall.
On December 23, Schindler has to face the winner of the first round duel between the Englishman Martin Lukeman and the Japanese outsider Nobuhiro Yamamoto. Both are behind Schindler in the world rankings, Lukemann is 41st and Yamamoto is only 226th. Schindler: “The chances that I will have to play against the Englishman are very high. With Lukeman I know what to expect, with Yamamoto I know better fewer.” He’s definitely prepared, he’s training hard. “I hope that this can then be implemented on stage.”
“Ally Pally” like Champions League with Eintracht
Another Hesse, Max Hopp from Idstein, did not qualify for the darts world championship again, neither did last year’s young star, Fabian Schmutzler from Frankfurt. So now Schindler has to represent the Hessian colors. Hopp really misses the atmosphere in “Ally Pally”, which Schindler will soon experience in London.
Hopp enthuses: “The warm-up rooms before the World Cup game are under the stage, the cheering of the fans really makes the ceiling vibrate. When you come out, the curtain rises, the fans, this energy that comes across is indescribable. It’s something like that , as if Eintracht has a Champions League game, you get that kind of energy.”
Schindler now wants to soak up this energy with his long-awaited first victory in the “Ally Pally”. It’s about fame, but also about a lot of money. A total of £2.5 million in prize money will be distributed. There is a whopping prize of £500,000 for the world champion. Schindler at least has the sweetest lucky charm of all World Cup participants: the newborn Hailey at home in Rodgau.
