The darts world championship has been running in London’s Alexandra Palace for a week now – it has always been the highlight of the sport’s year.
Three Germans are still there, one is starting today. Striking: Some darters have previously practiced a different sport – this is also proven by our abnormalities.
The Ex-Welder
Gabriel Clemens, nicknamed “The German Giant”, is the German number one and the greatest hope at the World Cup. In today’s evening session (from 8 p.m./Sport 1 and Dazn) the 39-year-old meets Irishman William O’Connor. The veteran had previously defeated the 52-match unbeaten teenager Beau Greaves (18) 3-0 in sets. Clemens, a trained machinist who is currently not pursuing this profession and is concentrating fully on darts, caused a stir two years ago by reaching the round of 16 and beating the reigning world champion Peter Wright. In a conversation with the Süddeutsche Zeitung, he recently said that the job he learned didn’t do him any good on stage at first, he didn’t have a welding machine with him. If things don’t work out so well with the arrows, he can imagine going back to the workbench.
The Ex One
Michael van Gerwen has long been the pinnacle of darts, leading the world rankings forever and becoming world champion in 2012, 2014 and 2019. Then the Dutchman weakened and is currently only third in the world rankings behind Gerwyn Price and Peter Wright. Today “Mighty Mike” enters the World Cup. In the evening session, Welshman Lewy Williams is his first opponent. Most recently, the 33-year-old has been in top form – and is quite self-confident before his start: “I don’t have to prove that I’m better than everyone else. Because they know I’m the best when I play my best game,” he said. Should he win the title, then he would be the one in the world again.
The ex-rugby pro
Number one is currently still Gerwyn Price. The ex-rugby professional won his first match on Monday evening against Englishman Luke Woodhouse 3-1. Next time he’ll be on stage on December 27th – maybe against Raymond van Barneveld.
The ex-handball pro
Florian Hempel, the next German, will intervene tomorrow. The ex-handball goalkeeper plays in the evening session on Thursday against the fifth in the world rankings Luke Humphries from England. Martin Schindler is the third German to play against Englishman Martin Lukeman on Friday evening.
The ex-baseball pro
Another ex-professional athlete has already achieved success. Leonard Gates, 52 and an American, defeated Dutchman Geert Nentjes 3-1. Gates was a former baseball pro. (Maximilian Bulau)
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