Dimitri Van den Bergh has failed to qualify for the quarterfinals at the World Championship darts for the third time in his career. Dancing Dimi bumped into a very strong Dave Chisnall on Wednesday evening and misses a clash with Michael van Gerwen in the quarterfinals.
Dimitri Van den Bergh is number nine in the world ranking, Dave Chisnall is number eight. And in the London Alexandra Palace, the difference between the two toppers was also very small. Dancing Dimi and Chizzy recorded averages of well over 100 points per three arrows, but in the first three sets Chisnall threw in almost all the decisive doubles. Before Van den Bergh realized it well, he was indebted 3-0 in sets. The disbelief was on the face of the 26-year-old from Antwerp. Chisnall played his strongest match of the tournament.
With his back against the wall, Van den Bergh suddenly started to play liberally from the fourth set. In no time and with excellent throws, Dancing Dimi swung to 3-2 in sets.
On it and over it, it seemed. But in the sixth set Van den Bergh went down mentally. Our fellow countryman missed countless opportunities. He missed the crucial chance of a 2-1 lead in that sixth set up to six times. This heavy burden of errors turned out to be fatal. Chisnall accepted the gift with both hands. He won the leg and immediately hit his first match dart in the next leg.
Van den Bergh threw a fine average of 102.17 per three darts (compared to 101.76 for Chisnall) and was good for 12 180’ers (against 7 for Chisnall), but his average on the checkouts (11/35) was a lot lower than that from the Briton (13/26).
A bitter pill for Dimitri Van den Bergh, who had come to London for nothing less than the world title. Moreover, he misses such a great experience playing against world number one Michael Van Gerwen in the quarter finals.
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