“Massive underdog” triumphs
The best minutes of your darts life are not enough
By Kevin Schulte, London
December 28, 2023, 9:12 p.m
Florian Hempel experiences the best minutes of his darts life so far within a week, but the German darts professional can only benefit from it once. In round three the World Cup against Stephen Bunting is over. He now declares himself a “massive underdog”.
Dart players want to get into the tunnel. The state of infallibility drives the professionals. Florian Hempel, the “Kölsche Jung”, experiences the tunnel rush twice at this Darts World Cup in London’s Alexandra Palace. Nevertheless, the 33-year-old has no chance in his third round game against Stephen Bunting this afternoon.
But one after anonther. Two days before Christmas Eve, the 33-year-old worked himself into an unbelievable frenzy. Against last year’s semi-finalist Dimitri Van den Bergh, Hempel was apparently hopelessly behind, but survived match darts from his Belgian opponent and, after one of the greatest comebacks in World Cup history, moved into the next round. Against the Englishman Stephen Bunting, Hempel was now aiming for a sensational entry into the round of 16. But that should remain a dream.
Unfortunate top start from Hempel
Hempel had started as strongly in the first set as he had finished against Van den Bergh six days earlier. After the first round there were already three 180 high scores in the statistics, plus a 100 percent rate on the double fields and a 164 checkout, the third highest in darts. It’s just stupid that despite the strong statistics, Hempel only managed two legs.
Bunting simply played even better than the extremely strong German. An average score of 115 for “The Bullet” and 107 for Hempel. The first set was the best the Darts World Cup has seen so far this year. Bunting started the game with two 11-darters in a row, then Hempel checked 164 points, released his emotions and equalized 2-2 in the next leg. But in the decider, Hempel no longer found the triple fields as often, and Bunting took advantage of this to win the set.
It should have been the decisive moment in the game. Although Hempel maintained his perfect double rate until the end of the second set, he hit fewer triples. Unsurprisingly, Bunting couldn’t maintain the monstrous level either, but he remained better than Hempel until the end of the game. In the end, from Hempel’s point of view, the scoreboard showed an unsatisfactory 0:4 in the sets. “Losing 4-0 is tough,” said Hempel in his mandatory interview with Sport1. But he also emphasized that, unlike recently, he did not oversleep the initial phase. He wanted to improve that and he managed to do that, said the Cologne native.
Hempel declined further interview requests after the clear but unsurprising elimination against top man Bunting. Just like Gabriel Clemens the day before, Hempel apparently just wanted to get out of the darts stronghold “Ally Pally”. Martin Schindler, who was bitterly eliminated from the German comparison on Wednesday, answered numerous questions from media representatives.
“Luckily today was my day”
So it was up to winner Bunting to say a few words about the game and the spectacular start at the press conference. “Florian played really well. He presented me with a real challenge. But to come out of the game as the winner in the end, I’m really happy about that,” said Bunting and, when asked by ntv.de, also revealed that he was ” “I was very happy” about Hempel’s victory in the previous round. “We need people like Florian in our sport. He is a very good player. Luckily today was my day.”
Bunting needs a similarly good form on the day in the round of 16 against Michael van Gerwen tomorrow Friday evening. He sees himself as a “big underdog,” said “The Bullet” after his success over Hempel. Despite several questions, Bunting repeatedly underlined his alleged underdog role against the three-time world champion. When asked about it one last time by ntv.de, the “big underdog” even became a “massive underdog” – but the 38-year-old didn’t really believe his own words.
Especially since half a minute earlier he had acknowledged that he had increased self-confidence and maturity compared to previous years. “I’ve been here long enough to realize that I’m one of the best players in the world right now. I’m trying to be the best version of myself right now.”
The best bunting of all time could become a stumbling block even for Michael van Gerwen. “Bring me Bunting,” the Dutchman had said the evening before after reaching the round of 16. His wish was granted.