With a sovereign success over the Scotsman Alan Soutar, Gabriel Clemens moved into the quarter-finals of the Darts World Championship. Now the most difficult of all exams awaits in “Ally Pally”.
Gabriel Clemens wrote German darts history with a dominant performance. The 39-year-old was the first German to reach the World Cup quarter-finals in London with a 4-1 win over Alan Soutar and is now allowed to play against the Welsh world number one GerwynPrice line up
Of the “German Giants”, as Clemens is called, was superior to the weak Scot from the first set and determined the game against the outsider, who had previously knocked out two seeded professionals in Daryl Gurney and Danny Noppert from the World Cup. Even after a brief dip in performance in the second set, Clemens did not lose his confidence: “I never thought that I could lose. But when the doubles didn’t come for a moment, it could of course have been tight again.”
Clemens writes darts history
Two years ago, Saarlander Clemens was the first German to reach the round of 16 at the World Cup – and is now the first to win the 2.5 million pound (around 2.82 million euro) tournament in the Alexandra Palace in the round of eight. The duel with the previously flawless muscle man Price, which is one of the big favorites, is now waiting for the New Year. For Darts Germany it will be the biggest match in history.
In the course of the tournament so far, Clemens had the Irishman William O’Connor (3:0) and Jim Williams defeated from Wales (4:3). Like Soutar, both were unseeded, but the fireman and guide dog trainer from Scotland was considered the biggest hurdle to date. The 44-year-old graduated between his matches in London there are still fire service shifts and is also scheduled for New Year’s Eve. When asked when he sleeps at all, Soutar replied: “In January.”
Loud German fans at “Ally Pally”
Loudly cheered on by more than 500 Germans fans Clemens started strong. The very first recording brought the maximum score of 180 points – and delighted the colorfully dressed supporters, who, as always, chanted “Oh, how beautiful that is”. Clemens got the first set without any problems.
The game was characterized by many mistakes and was by far not as entertaining and high-class as the third round duel with Williams, but Clemens had his strong moments again this time. When he was 1-1 in the third set over bulls-eye a finish mastered, he cheered exuberantly in the direction of his box for girlfriend Lisa. The fourth sentence turned into a thriller, which Clemens decided to win with nerves of steel. After that, the game was quickly decided.
Next opponent: Primus Price
After three emotional individual successes at the World Championships, which in terms of sport fell into the “compulsory victory” category, Clemens is now faced with the ultimate test. the former rugby-Professional Price is in form and has to get the 500,000 pounds (around 566,000 euros) for the title in order to remain the leader of the darts world the day after the World Cup final on January 3rd.
Clemens is looking forward to the task: “Before the tournament started, I read that I might have won a game here match trusts. Now I’m not only here for Christmas, but for the first time also for New Year’s Eve, that’s great. I just look at myself. If I can perform again and be there at the right moments, I think I will GerwynPrice can be dangerous.”
Smith doesn’t give Cullen a chance
In the purely English duel between number four and number 13 in the world rankings MichaelSmith clearly with 4:1 against Joe Cullen through. Smithwho nearly fell to Germany’s Martin Schindler in the previous round, played a strong 103.25 average and was also clearly stronger than Cullen (93.86 and 31 percent).