Thursday, December 16, 2021
Boos at the Darts World Cup
Price survives a delicate start
Gerwyn Price polarizes. At his opening match at the Darts World Cup, “The Iceman” has absolutely no audience on his side. But the boos seem to goad the Welshman. After a false start, he kept his nerve and left the Alexandra Palace as the winner.
Defending champion Gerwyn Price survived a tricky opening match at the Darts World Cup in London and is now allowed to pause until after the Christmas holidays. The 36-year-old Welshman defeated the Englishman Ritchie Edhouse 3-1 on Wednesday evening and is in the round of 32. Price had lost the first set and also survived some critical situations in sets two and three. It was only when he decided the third set about a hit on Bulls-Eye that the game was decided.
When the fans returned to Alexandra Palace, Price struggled massively with the audience. “The Iceman”, as Price is called, had already been booed when he entered. This continued in the course of the game. For important transformed throws, the former rugby professional built himself up in front of the audience and cheered extremely loudly. It is still open who the world number one will meet in the third round. Another possible opponent is the Englishwoman Fallon Sherrock.
Earlier that evening, Edhouse narrowly prevailed 3-2 in the first tournament game against compatriot Peter Hudson. Hudson only slipped into the tournament at short notice because the Chinese Lihao Wen could not start.
German players were not yet involved. The kick-off on Thursday evening (9 p.m. / Sport1 and DAZN) will be 16-year-old Fabian Schmutzler, who will play against Ryan Meikle. If Schmutzler wins, he would be the youngest individual winner in the history of the tournament and would meet the Scottish ex-world champion Peter Wright on Friday evening.