Victory against two-time world champions
Big surprise: Merk is celebrating the next darts party
12/23/2025 – 5:51 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Darts blast at Alexandra Palace in London: Arno Merk pulls off the next big surprise on his World Cup debut. The man from Peine defeated a two-time world champion.
Arno Merk’s darts fairytale on his World Cup debut continues: The Peiner native clearly won 3-0 against two-time world champion Peter Wright on Tuesday afternoon.
Wright was noticeably tense in the first set and didn’t get into the game at all. Merk took advantage of the moment, won all three legs – and ended the set with a 122 checkout.
Merk’s Scottish opponent, who kept exchanging his darts in his usual manner, also had a hard time in the second set. Merk, however, showed no trace of nervousness during his second appearance at Alexandra Palace in London. The tormentor extended his set lead to 2-0 with a 3-1 in legs.
Now he was only one victorious set away from the next big coup – and he couldn’t miss the chance. Merk won again 3-1 in legs and thus sealed the clear 3-0 success. Wright only won two legs in the entire match and had major problems hitting the double fields. His average ended up being 79.2 points. Merk averaged 90.2 points.
The 33-year-old Merk had already surprised in the first round and knocked the Belgian Kim Huybrechts, a former World Cup quarter-finalist and former world-class professional, out of the tournament. He won the game 3-1.
In the third round on December 29th he will face the Dutchman Michael van Gerwen or the Irishman William O’Connor, who will face each other on Tuesday evening. In addition to Merk, from a German perspective, Martin Schindler, Ricardo Pietreczko and Gabriel Clemens are also there. Max Hopp, Dominik Grüllich, Lukas Wenig and Niko Springer have already had to give up.