After reaching the semi-finals at the previous Darts World Cup, Gabriel Clemens failed in the third round. The “German Giant” wants to quickly put the disappointing end behind them.
The day after his crash landing in the “Ally Pally”, Gabriel Clemens was already thinking positively again. On Instagram, the “German Giant” presented his 263,000 followers with a bracelet with the words “Giving up is not an option” and accompanied the short clip with the song “Never Give Up” by Australian pop star Sia.
Get up, adjust your crown, carry on – the message of the fallen giant is clear.
Of course it wasn’t the result he had hoped for, wrote the German number one: “But that’s how it is sometimes in life.” “Gaga” showed a disappointing performance in the 4-1 defeat against Englishman Dave Chisnall, and the resulting painful third-round exit was the logical consequence.
Above all, the great difficulties on the doubles fields quickly dashed any dreams of making it to the World Cup semi-finals again.
Gabriel Clemens is experiencing a difficult darts season
“Unfortunately the doubles and the timing weren’t there at all,” complained Clemens, with only about every fourth attempt hitting the narrow outer ring. Not enough at a World Cup, as his counterpart “Chizzy” scored 50 percent. “Not every day is perfect. Nevertheless, you learn something every day, even if things don’t go your way,” said the number 22 in the world rankings. At least there were lessons learned from the bankruptcy.
The early journey home really can’t be seen as a big surprise. It is part of what has largely been a very difficult season for the German.
After the World Cup semi-final at the beginning of the year, the 40-year-old mostly played below his standards. Only reaching the semi-finals of the Players Championship Finals before the highlight of the season had raised hopes of a good performance at Alexandra Palace.
After the setback that his compatriot Martin Schindler suffered in the same session with a dramatic 3:4 against Scott Williams, Clemens is now stepping back from the dartboard a little. He wanted to pick up the arrows again “next year,” he said on Sport1: “Now I’ll let it sink in for a few days – and then in 2024 it’ll be full throttle again.”
After his crash landing in “Ally Pally”, it’s clear to Clemens: “Setbacks are part of it. You just can’t give up, because that’s not an option!”