“Pikachu” also continues at the World Cup
Ricardo Pietreczko extends German darts record
December 23, 2023, 3:35 p.m
The German holidays at the Darts World Cup in London continue: Ricardo Pietreczko is the fourth German to move into the third round. Debutant “Pikachu” won against Englishman Callan Rydz 3-2. The top favorite awaits after Christmas.
A long-term German party is gradually developing in the legendary Alexandra Palace. Comeback king Florian Hempel, a calm Martin Schindler and Gabriel Clemens, who is now even considered the secret favorite, have the numerous darts fans from Germany who have traveled and are already eager to party dreaming of a really big coup. Ricardo Pietreczko now follows up and extends the German record to four players in the third round.
“The atmosphere was different than the last time, there was even more going on,” said Pietreczko after his victory in the darts stronghold “Ally Pally”. Despite the higher world ranking position, Rydz was “an opponent like any other” for him.
After his exhibition run in round one against the Japanese Mikuru Suzuki (3-0), Pietreczko had more trouble in his second task. “Pikachu” secured the first round without any problems, Rydz missed a number of chances on the double fields. The Englishman then got into the game better and narrowly won the second round.
The third round again went confidently to the German, but Rydz came back again and forced the decisive fifth round. There Pietreczko had the upper hand and won the match thanks to a calm and concentrated performance. The Nuremberg player continues after Christmas against top favorite Luke Humphries. Unlike Clemens, Schindler and Hempel, Pietreczko spends the holidays in London.
“We are on a new level”
On Thursday, Clemens started with a victory at the place where he wrote German darts history at the last World Cup. On Friday, Florian Hempel followed up a thriller against Dimitri Van den Bergh and Martin Schindler with a confident win over Jermaine Wattimena.
Four Germans in the middle when the hot phase of the World Cup begins, that’s a huge milestone. “It’s great how German darts is developing. We’ve reached a new level,” explained Schindler, who was also in the third round last year and had the eventual world champion Michael Smith on the verge of defeat.
The exact game dates for the third round, which will take place from December 27th to 29th, have not yet been determined. The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) will only provide information about this this evening after the second round has concluded.