The former permanent dominator is only one of the favorites, the reigning world champion is spitting big, the most successful player of the year also works as a plasterer. A 16-year-old from Germany is among them. The Darts World Cup 2022 starts today.
94 players and 2 players will fight for the title at the Darts World Championship from today until January 3rd. Gerwyn Price, reigning world champion and world number one, sees himself as a high favorite and soon on a par with darts legend Phil “The Power” Taylor. There is nothing left of Michael van Gerwen’s former permanent dominance, but “Mighty Mike” is convinced that “nobody can be dangerous” if he brings his top game on stage. Peter Wright now announces before every single tournament that he will win it. “Just blah, blah,” says van Gerwen. And if three argue, maybe Jonny Clayton, the most successful player of the year and outside of the tournaments as a plasterer on Welsh construction sites, laughs.
Who are the favorites?
Gerwyn Price is not only the defending champion, but also very confident of himself. “Give me two or three more years and I’ll be even more dominant. Even if I’m already world champion and first in the ranking. I will be just as dominant as Phil Taylor” , said the “Iceman” last “Sky Sports”. However, Price has also shown one or two weaknesses this year, he is still a long way from the former dominance of Phil Taylor or Michael van Gerwen. The ex-rugby professional from Wales won “only” one of the ten major tournaments of the year.
Most of the trophies – four of them – snatched his compatriot Jonny Clayton. The Welshman grabbed the financially lucrative Premier League in the first half of the year, then won three other big titles later in the year. At the world championship, the big hit should succeed, but a duel with his compatriot and friend Gerwyn Price threatens in the quarter-finals. It is questionable whether he will continue to work as a plasterer in the event of a World Cup victory with 500,000 pounds in prize money. Clayton’s professional activity is already a curiosity. Otherwise, all of the top players in the world rankings have long since given up their trained jobs.
Price predecessor Peter Wright – he won the world title in 2020 – also claims the 25 kilogram “Sid Waddell Trophy”. In time for the global championships, the Scot seems to have found his shape again. At the Grand Slam of Darts, the bird of paradise with the colorful mohawk made it to the finals, at the end of November Wright grabbed the title at the Players Championship Finals.
Despite a historically unsuccessful year also reports Michael van Gerwen Claims to the title. The 2014, 2017 and 2019 world champions may not have won a single major tournament in 2021, but still consider themselves to be the best player in the world. “If I play my A-Game, nobody can be dangerous to me,” said “MvG” immediately before the start of the tournament “Checkout” podcast. “My biggest opponent is Gerwyn Price. He doesn’t play good darts right now, but he finds ways to win the games. That’s the small difference between him and me, because I’m playing better than him at the moment.”
Who else should you watch out for?
Above all, the top players from the second row are allowed to come out James Wade, Ex-world champion Rob Cross, Dimitri Van den Bergh as well as the two-time world champion Gary Anderson Calculate the chances of a big hit. In addition, the Portuguese can José de Sousa surprising despite his arithmetic weakness, which is unusual for a top player.
Fallon Sherrock returns to the place where she became the “Queen of the Palace”. At the penultimate World Cup, the 27-year-old Englishwoman was the first woman to defeat a man and even went one round after beating Ted Evetts. Will it work again this time with the move-in in round 3? Not impossible. She has good cards to kick off against old master Steve Beaton, and in round 2 she would be number 32 in the world. Kim Huybrechts from Belgium are waiting.
Next to Sherrock is Lisa Ashton as the second woman. The 51-year-old is still waiting for her first win in the “Ally Pally”, but has not been given an unsolvable task with the Dutchman Ron Meulenkamp.
Two years ago, the trained hairdresser Fallon Sherrock became the first woman to defeat a man at the World Cup.
(Photo: imago images / Pro Sports Images)
In addition, one of the sports stars of the Netherlands is returning to the big stage. Raymond van Barneveld was eliminated in round 1 of the World Cup two years ago after a poor performance, had only tormented himself on his last year on the tour. “I wasn’t a nice person anymore. I gave up,” he recently confessed to “Checkout” podcast.
But a year later he resigned from his resignation. “Barney” made a strong comeback at the beginning of this year: He landed his first tournament victory in March, followed by qualification for the Grand Slam of Darts at the end of the year. The 52-year-old is out of the question for the World Cup victory, but the former postman from Rotterdam could become a stumbling block for Rob Cross (possible second-round opponent). “I’m a born winner. If I didn’t believe in winning the World Cup, I wouldn’t go to London.”
One of the biggest names in the scene is also back again: Paul Lim, meanwhile a proud 67 years old, qualified for the World Cup for the 26th time. But his hobby is e-darts. Plastic points are thrown there. The old master from Singapore is commonly known as Phil Taylor of e-darts, which underlines his exceptional position.
Which Germans are there?
Paul Lim is traditionally the oldest participant in the tournament.
(Photo: imago images / Pro Sports Images)
For the first time four Germans have qualified for the world championship in the “Ally Pally”. Gabriel Clemens is the only German seeded at his fourth World Cup. The number 25 in the world will only enter the tournament in round 2. His opponent will be determined in the game between the young Welshman Lewy Williams and the Japanese Toyokazu Shibata, who should not be underestimated. But “it could have gotten me worse,” says Clemens. If the “German Giant” wins its opening game, Jonny Clayton will most likely wait. But Clemens doesn’t want to look that far: “Jonny has to win his opening game first. Personally, I’m not even thinking about a game against him.”
For the third time it has Martin Schindler qualified for the biggest darts event of the year. This time it should finally work for the 25-year-old with his first win. But the draw didn’t necessarily mean it well, because it’s a German duel with a World Cup debutant Florian Hempel.
The former handball goalkeeper – was active in the 2nd and 3rd leagues – can look back on a strong first year on the professional tour. Many experts see the German duel as the strongest in the entire first round. “It’s a shame that it goes against Florian, but he won’t give me the win any more than I will give him,” said Schindler before the special duel in “Checkout” podcast. Hempel, who found the moment of the draw to be “shocking”, hopes that he and his training partner will meet the high expectations of “going on stage free and playing darts without cramps”.
But another person wrote the headlines shortly before the World Cup: Fabian Schmutzler. The 16-year-old had sensationally qualified for the World Cup in November and is the second youngest player of all time to play in the “Ally Pally”. His first round match against Ryan Meikle is already on the program on the second evening of the World Cup. “Meikle is a surprise bag,” says Schmutzler and believes that it will be a surprise if Meikle does not beat an average of 95 points. “Then I have a great chance.” If Schmutzler wins, he will be rewarded in the second round with a game against Peter Wright. “That would be really fat.”
What else do you need to know?
The players either have to provide proof of vaccination, recovery or a test, and the PDC urged them to refrain from clapping with spectators during the walk-ons.
Three actors have already had to cancel their participation due to Corona. The Spanish qualifier Juan Rodriguez tested positive before his journey to London, the South African Charles Losper and the Chinese starter Lihao Wen were not granted entry to Great Britain. Instead of 31 different nations, “only” 29 are represented at this year’s World Cup, so the event will not be able to set a new record.
Much more important for the PDC is the return of the fans anyway. After a few hundred spectators were only allowed to enter the Alexandra Palace on the first evening due to the corona in the previous year and the remaining days were played without fans, this time the tournament is to take place in front of a full hut. Spectators must either be vaccinated, recovered, or tested and must wear a mask in public areas. Otherwise, the fans should deliver the usual World Cup scenes: disguises, chants, ecstasy.