Debutant Kai Gotthardt surprisingly won his opening match at the World Darts Championship in London on Monday – and also defied a broken dart.
The 29-year-old from Esslingen am Neckar beat the Scotsman Alan Soutar 3-1 sets in the first round at his premiere at Alexandra Palace. In the second round he will meet Stephen Bunting (England), eighth in the world rankings, on Friday afternoon (around 4:45 p.m.).
Involuntary stage exit
Already when the score was 1:2 in the first set there was a bizarre scene. Since the necessary spare part for his broken arrow was missing, “The Tunnel” Gotthardt had to make the long journey to the warm-up area. “This has never happened to me in over four years. And then my dart breaks on the biggest stage in the world. I was stunned, it was crazy”said Gotthardt at Sport1, “But I went through with it.”
Soutar has fun with the fans
In the meantime, opponent Soutar had been waiting on the stage and having fun with the singing fans in the Ally Pally. With a new arrow, Gotthardt gave up the first set, but then secured three rounds in a row. On Wednesday evening (around 9:10 p.m.) Ricardo Pietreczko will be the second German to take part in the tournament. The top German player Martin Schindler, Gabriel Clemens, Florian Hempel and debutant Niko Springer are also qualified.