Danny Noppert picks himself up after disappointing evening in Amsterdam: tournament win after Dutch final | Sport

The final of Players Championship 22 between Noppert, number nine in the world, and Kist, number 110 in the world, was a nerve-wracking one. Noppert, who was recently very disappointed in the Dutch fans at the World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam because they sang to opponent Nathan Aspinall, they took a 4-2 lead in legs.

However, it was Kist who won four legs in a row, taking a 6-4 lead and losing an ultimately crucial leg at 6-5. He missed plenty of opportunities to make it 7-5 and was broken by Noppert. This made it 6-6, after which it even came down to the all-decisive fifteenth leg at 7-7. Noppert, number nine in the world, struck devastatingly with an eleven-dart finish and, just like on February 12 of this year, he won a Players Championship.

Noppert reached the final in Barnsley by beating world champion Michael Smith (7-1) in the semi-finals with an average of 102.34, while Kist made short work of Damon Heta, eliminating the Australian Raymond van Barneveld in the quarter-finals.

In any case, it was a good day for the Dutch in Barnsley. There were no fewer than four Dutch darts players in the last eight. In addition to Noppert and Kist, also Kevin Doets and Van Barneveld. Doets, who was responsible for the elimination of Michael van Gerwen in the last sixteen, had to acknowledge his superiority in fellow countryman Kist, while Van Barneveld, who tied the knot in Cyprus last week, lost to Heta in the quarter-finals, as mentioned.

This is the sixth time that there has been a Dutch winner at this year’s Players Championships. Noppert was the first at Players Championship 2 by beating Simon Whitlock in the final. Dirk van Duijvenbode then struck twice at the fourth and sixth Players Championship and subsequently also won the tenth. In between, Michael van Gerwen won Players Championship 7 in Hildesheim.

Chris Landman, Gian van Veen and Kevin Doets were also close to success at the Players Championship. Landman lost to Krzysztof Ratajski in the final at the ninth in Wigan, while Van Veen recently lost the final battle to Gerwyn Price at the eighteenth in Hildesheim. Doets, who once again scored well today, lost the final in Barnsley to Luke Humphries earlier this month at Players Championship 20.