Just missed a surprise
Darts World Cup: German debutant is eliminated
Updated 12/18/2025 – 10:06 p.mReading time: 1 min.
Dominik Grüllich held his own for a long time against the seeded Dutchman Jermaine Wattimena, but in the end he had to return home.
Dominik Grüllich lost his first match at the Darts World Cup. The 23-year-old lost to the favored Dutchman Jermaine Wattimena 2:3 in the first round.
Grülich was the only German starter who met a seeded opponent at the start. Wattimena, number 19 in the world, initially dominated and clearly won the first set. In the second round, the Upper Bavarian found his way into the game better, took the set and also followed up in the third.
After that, however, the Dutchman took over again. Wattimena used his first match dart and won the duel. Grüllich showed a courageous performance in his World Cup debut, but was unable to complete the surprise in the end.
“It’s so overwhelming to stand up there for the first time. You don’t really notice everything,” said Grüllich on Sport1: “The impressions were just way too big. That’s why I didn’t get that much focus.”
After the early exit of Niko Springer and Lukas Wenig, five Germans are in the second round: Martin Schindler, Ricardo Pietreczko, Gabriel Clemens, Max Hopp and Arno Merk.