EActually there weren’t any surprises anymore. Anyone who had followed the events of the past few months in the tournament calendar, which was torn up by the pandemic and patched together as a makeshift, knew what could happen at this European Darts Championship.
In the round of 16 of the European Darts Championship, four of the six best players, Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith and Nathan Aspinall, had to give up the sails. Rob Cross, number five in the world rankings, was eliminated the day before. No coincidence.
Out in round one: Defending champion Rob Cross was eliminated by Martijn Kleermaker from the Netherlands
Source: dpa / Swen gatekeeper
The world rankings calculated on the basis of the past two years have long since ceased to reflect the true balance of power. The consistent and successful marketing of precision sports have brought about a professionalization that has increased the quality, especially in terms of breadth.
After the Phil Taylor era came the time of Michael van Gerwen. And also the second row with players like Raymons van Barneveld, Gary Anderson or Peter Wright was long considered an inaccessible circle for newbies. Even more than in other sports, the hierarchies worked like laws for decades.
Darts primus van Gerwen loses against White
The past few months had already indicated how open the field is now. The EM is now the most extreme spike on the anarchy scale, which is open to the top. Nothing is predictable right now among the best players in the world.
Van Gerwen threatens to lose his number one status in 2021 after more than seven years. He has long since lost the nimbus of invincibility. The performances that he shows on stage even after returning to his old arrows are too inconsistent. And even good games can now be lost because the quality of the opponents from round one to another. The round of 16 against Ian White was great. MVG played an average of 102, but the Englishman a 104. In the end, White won 10: 4.
“The bookmakers seem to be more afraid of Michael than we are at the moment,” said Gerwyn Price, number two in the world rankings, after his first round win. For the Welshman, however, it was also the end of the last sixteen. Price lost 6:10 to world champion Peter Wright after he was already 3: 9 behind.
Wright is the only player from the top ten in Oberhausen who has made it to the quarter-finals. Half of the last eight are outside the top 30.
The lost dominance of the Dutch superstar is only the tip of a development that runs through the entire field. Anyone can beat anyone. And create everything.
After three years there was another 9-darter at the EM. The perfect game in the first round was not thrown by Van Gerwen, Wright or Price, but by José de Sousa. A Portuguese from the depths of the world rankings.
First Portuguese to succeed in the 9-darter on the big stage: José de Sousa
Source: PDC / Jonas Hunold / PDC Europe
De Sousa is one of 30, maybe 40 players who can now beat any other player without causing a sensation. He now wants to be in the top 16, he said. Another one who is on the way up is Dirk van Duijvenbode.
The Dutchman, who works on an eggplant farm and has made his exotic job his trademark, had to fear for the qualification for the Tour Card until a few weeks ago. Now he is considered to be one of the best players in the world right now.
At the last major tournament, the Grand Prix, van Duijvenbode even reached the final, and in Oberhausen, too, the 28-year-old can do anything after his successes against Danny Noppert (6: 0) and Michael Smith (10: 8). Welshman Jonny Clayton is waiting for the quarter-finals, which can be seen live on Saturday from 8 p.m. on the DAZN streaming service.
Van Duijvenbode, who will appear in the top 50 for the first time after Oberhausen, personifies the current development of his sport. Darts is experiencing its eggplant revolution. Old rules and hierarchies no longer apply. The world championship in December with its 96 participants promises to be a spectacle.
The round of 16 at a glance
William O‘Connor – Jamie Hughes 10:3
Devon Petersen – Martijn Kleermaker 10: 8
Jonny Clayton – José de Sousa 10: 6
James Wade – Nathan Aspinall 10:8
Dirk van Duijvenbode – Michael Smith 10: 8
Peter Wright – Gerwyn Price 10: 6
Ian White – Michael van Gerwen 10: 4
Steve West – Mensur Suljovic 10: 9
The quarter finals
William O‘Connor – James Wade
Jonny Clayton – Dirk van Duijvenbode
Peter Wright – Steve West
Devon Petersen – Ian White
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