Thursday, December 16, 2021
Debutant plays 0: 3
Schmutzler’s World Darts Championship is over again
Every beginning is difficult: Fabian Schmutzler is visibly nervous on his debut at the Darts World Cup. At the beginning, the youngster made a number of mistakes, only in the last set did he come into play. He still had fun, as he says after the match.
As expected, darts youngster Fabian Schmutzler’s debut at the World Cup came to a quick end. The second youngest player in tournament history lost his opening match against Englishman Ryan Meikle with 0: 3 in front of around 3000 spectators in London’s Alexandra Palace. The 16-year-old from Frankfurt surprisingly qualified for the World Cup on the Development Tour at the beginning of November.
“I was very happy to be able to stand up there and play my darts, even if I would have liked to have won a set,” said Schmutzler at DAZN: “It was a lot of fun. I am very happy that I am here was allowed to be. “
Due to the defeat, “The Fabulous Fab” missed out on being the youngest player ever to reach the second round. After a nervous start and the quick 3-0 in the first set, he kept up with his opponent nine years older and managed to win his first leg. In the end, Schmutzler achieved an average of 89.14 points, which is about as many as the 71st world ranking, but used his chances of winning the doubles too seldom (33 percent).
Last afternoon, quarter-finalist Daryl Gurney (Northern Ireland) defeated Englishman Ricky Evans 3-1. The German duel between Florian Hempel (Cologne) and Martin Schindler (Strausberg) will take place on Sunday. The German number one Gabriel Clemens (Saarwellingen) is not required until December 23rd.
96 players from 29 nations fight for the winner’s check of 500,000 pounds (around 546,000 euros) in the most important tournament of the year. In addition to world champion Gerwyn Price, who already moved into round three on Wednesday, ex-world champions Peter Wright (Scotland) and Michael van Gerwen (Netherlands) are among the favorites. The final is scheduled for January 3rd.