All of Ahoy chanted his name hours before he had to start his match. The room in Rotterdam looked like an enormous sea of orange and green. But the twelfth round of the Premier League darts on Thursday evening was a disappointment for Michael van Gerwen. De Vlijmenaar went down in the first round against the Englishman Nathan Aspinall.
In the first leg nothing seemed to be wrong for Van Gerwen. He won that one legwhich he had started himself, with an 84 throw on double 12. Aspinall also kept his leg and then he ate the next one leg off of ‘MVG’. ‘Mighty Mike’ did not let that happen. He broke back with a nice 102 finish, but then he was broken again.
So the duel continued to go up and down. Van Gerwen and Aspinall remained each other’s legs ‘steal’, leaving an eleventh leg had to make the decision. In that, ‘MVG’ missed the opportunity to leave a good throw from 168 and put full pressure on ‘The Asp’. With a score of 39, he had to shake his head as the Englishman finished 118.
Lost head position
The victory over Van Gerwen gave Aspinall wings. He then also won the semi-final against the Belgian Dimitri van den Bergh and surprisingly beat the Welshman Gerwyn Price in the final.
Due to his early elimination in Ahoy, Van Gerwen has lost his lead in the standings of the Premier League, a darts competition between the eight best darts players of the PDC association. ‘Iceman’ Price is now first, ‘MVG’ follows by one point. The best four players advance to the quarterfinals after sixteen rounds. Van Gerwen and Price are so far ahead of the competition that they already seem certain of a place in the top four. Aspinall is third after his overall victory on Thursday evening, followed by Welshman Jonny Clayton.
Van Gerwen has won three Premier League nights this season. His last overall victory dates from the beginning of March. Then he was the best in Liverpool.
READ ALSO: Van Gerwen now wants the top prize in Ahoy, but is not happy with the tournament design
