Danny Noppert went into the Darts World Cup as one of the big tournament favorites. But after the first game in the second round it was over for the Dutchman. “The Freeze” was subsequently shocked.
Next hammer at this year’s Darts World Cup: After two-time world champion Peter Wright, world number seven Danny Noppert was also hit on Thursday evening. The 32-year-old lost 3-0 to Englishman Scott Williams – a bitter defeat for the tournament favorite.
“I don’t have the words for it,” Noppert said dejectedly to “AD” after the next early World Cup exit. He has never made it past the third round of a World Darts Championship. “If I wanted to progress, I should have done it at this World Cup. That’s very unfortunate.”
In the 0:3 (2:3, 2:3, 1:3) against Williams, Noppert stumbled above all because of a miserable checkout rate of 31 percent – even though he had already shown what he can do with a 170 finish in the first set good day is in him.
“Now I feel like shit”
Despite the disappointment, the Dutchman goes home “with a happy feeling.” Because: “The most important thing is that everyone at home is healthy and happy. Now I’m looking forward to coming home to my family. As darts players, we travel a lot and of course you want to hold up the trophy, but there’s no other way . I can now celebrate Christmas and my birthday (December 31, editor’s note) at home. That’s the advantage, but now I feel like crap.”
However, Danny Noppert did not want to claim that the birth of his daughter Ines at the end of November might have disrupted the preparation: “Of course the preparation is different because of it. I missed the Players Championship final, so you miss some stage training and get a little less sleep , but I’m totally up for it. So is that why? Certainly not, after my son was born I won the UK Open.”