Mega comeback leads to Clemens
That was the craziest game at the Darts World Cup
By Kevin Schulte
December 19, 2023, 6:36 a.m
Germany’s best darts player Gabriel Clemens will face Man Lok Leung from Hong Kong in his World Cup opening game. Despite an initial disaster, the 24-year-old achieved the biggest sensation of the tournament so far on Monday evening.
Gabriel Clemens already had a hunch when he was asked about his first opponent at Alexandra Palace in London in the run-up to the World Cup. Everyone agreed it would be the up-and-coming Dutchman Gian van Veen. But Clemens didn’t forget his opening opponent, Man Lok Leung from Hong Kong. “He’s not that bad, he can play darts well,” commented Clemens in the direction of Leung, who is only known to darts experts.
Clemens himself had already played against Leung at the World Team Championships in June when, together with doubles partner Martin Schindler, he clearly won against Team Hong Kong in the preliminary round. Leung didn’t spread fear and terror at the time, but Clemens definitely wanted to avoid the mistake of underestimating a possible opponent in the run-up to the World Cup.
That turned out to be spot on on Monday evening at “Ally Pally”. Van Veen won the first set with a bit of luck, but was shown his limits from the second round onwards. Leung worked himself into a frenzy, throwing one 180 after another. Only the doubles didn’t work in the second set. Leung missed an incredible twelve darts to win the set. The outstanding scoring didn’t help either.
Leung averaged 99 points in the second part of the game, van Veen only achieved a weak 75 points, but still won the set. It’s like FC Bayern losing against Clemens’ heart club 1. FC Saarbrücken despite 18:4 shots on goal. Happens in at most one case in a hundred.
Training while working
It is also quite rare for a qualifier to win on his World Cup debut after being 2-0 down. Man Lok Leung has achieved the feat. A whopping eleven 180 shots were in Leung’s statistics at the end of the game. And suddenly the 24-year-old also hit the double fields.
Gian van Veen seemed more desperate by the minute and was unable to build on his strong debut year on the professional tour. The 19-year-old Dutchman has been predicted to have a great future since he reached the semi-finals of the European Championships in October, but only the man from Hong Kong came out trumps that evening in the “Ally Pally”.
“I’m so happy because I never thought I could win this game,” Leung admitted afterwards. His work as an employee in a darts shop in Hong Kong probably also helped. “If there are no customers in the store, I go on the board,” said Leung about his unusual training routine.
Start for Horvat, Pietreczko and van Gerwen
Less memorable, but extremely confident, Gerwyn Price also moved into the next round of the World Cup in the evening. The “Iceman” won 3-0 against Connor Scutt and only lost two legs against the English outsider. “It was a decent performance, but I still have a lot more left in the tank,” was the 2021 world champion’s conclusion. “Hopefully I’ll come back a little better and more relaxed after Christmas.”
Of course, Michael van Gerwen also wants to be there after Christmas. The darts superstar from the Netherlands wants to finally win his fourth world championship title, the first after five years without a triumph. The first hurdle on the way to the final on January 3rd shouldn’t cause any problems for “MvG”. The out-of-form Irishman Keane Barry is waiting this Tuesday evening.
Before Michael van Gerwen takes the stage in front of 3,000 spectators in the “Ally Pally”, the darts evening is all about the Germans: Dragutin Horvat, qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 2017, plays against the Belgian Mike De Decker (9 p.m., Sport1 /Dazn). Immediately afterwards the tournament starts for Ricardo Pietreczko. His opponent is Mikuru Suzuki from Japan, the last remaining woman in the field.
The German is clearly the better player in nominal terms, but possible problems could lurk away from the dartboard. The audience will probably cheer for Suzuki and boo Pietreczko – at least at points. Most recently, the German darts shooting star of the year couldn’t handle such situations at all.