NOS Sport•
Niels Zonneveld has provided a thunderous surprise at the Darts World Cup. In a swirling Alexandra Palace, the Dutchman was too strong for Michael Smith, the 2023 world champion: 3-1.
‘Bully Boy’
‘Bully Boy’ Smith made his debut at the World Cup in 2012 and lost in the first round to Dutchman Co Stompé. In 2019 he reached the final for the first time, but lost to Michael van Gerwen. Three years later that happened to him again, but this time against the colorful Peter Wright.
In 2023 the roles were reversed: this time Smith left Van Gerwen without a chance and also became the new number one in the world.
After that, things started to deteriorate a little for Smith, who was shown the door of Ally Pally early last year by Kevin Doets and started the World Cup as number 28 in the world.
But against Zonneveld – 44th in the world rankings and in his second World Cup – he was nevertheless the big favorite.
‘Very happy’
Not much of that was evident in the match. Zonneveld immediately broke Smith in the first leg and took the first set 3-1, but Smith came back in the second set. The third set proved crucial for the match.
In the third set, Smith scored again as usual with an average of 130 per three arrows, but it was Zonneveld (nickname ‘Triple Z’) who won the set by throwing out at double-ten in the decisive fifth leg (started by Smith).
A break in the second leg of the fourth set was enough for a nice victory. “I am really so very happy,” stammered the 27-year-old darts player from Uitgeest in front of the Viaplay camera. “This was the step I needed. And now I’ve done it.”
Second round results (Saturday)
| Ryan Searle (Eng) – Brendan Dolan (Nir) | 3-0 |
| Andreas Harrison (Zwe) – Motomu Sakai (Jap) | 3-0 |
| James Hurrell (Ned) – Dirk van Duijvenbode (Dutch) | 3-2 |
| Ricardo Pietreczko (Dui) – Dave Chisnall (Eng) | 3-2 |
| Niels Zonneveld (Netherlands) – Michael Smith (Eng) | 3-1 |
| Andrew Gilding (Eng) – Chris Dobey (Eng) | 3-1 |
| Stephen Bunting (Eng) – Nitin Kumar (Ind) |
If Zonneveld can perform again against fifth-placed Clayton, he will at least avoid Dave Chisnall. The 21st seed Chisnall lost to the German Ricardo Pietreczko on Saturday evening.
However, the biggest scalp of the night – based on placement – was that of Chris Dobey. The eighth-seeded Englishman, who is still a participant in the Premier League this year, lost 3-1 to Andrew Gilding.
The 55-year-old Gilding threw an average of 104 per three arrows after the first set and only needed 16 arrows twice to complete the leg. All other legs won took five turns or less. One time he only needed 10 arrows.
Earlier in the day, Dirk van Duijvenbode crashed in the second round. ‘Aubergenious’ Van Duijvenbode, still good for the quarter-finals at the World Cup in 2021, lost 3-2 to the Englishman James Hurrell.
