Tag: world championship

Gerwyn ‘The Iceman’ Price Wins PDC World Championships + A Look At The 2021 PDC Schedule

We have a new world champion and new world number one. 

On Sunday, Gerwyn Price became the first ever Welsh winner of the PDC World Darts Championships when he saw off the challenge of two times winner Gary Anderson.

The Iceman played his esteemed opponent off the oche when he posted a 7-3 win at the Ally Pally and he’s now replaced Michael van Gerwen as world number one. It is the first time in seven years that MVG has been displaced at the world’s top.

Former Rugby man Price boasted an 80% checkout average at one point in the final and even broke the record for the highest set average in World Championship history when he took out the sixth with 136.64, courtesy of an 11-darter with a 100 checkout, a 12-darter with a 161, before a 10-darter as he just missed out on the perfect leg.

The Welshman, who this year also banked the World Grand Prix and the World Cup, did somehow manage to waste 11 match darts to make things look closer than they actually were but eventually nailed the double five with his 12th match dart to take himself to the pinnacle of his newest sport and lift the Sid Waddell Trophy for the first time.

New Year, New Season

Now, all eyes are turn towards the new PDC season. Everything gets underway all over again on the 29th of January when the PDC Darts Masters gets the season off to a hopefully thrilling start.

This year, the posted PDC schedule looks a little more tentative than in previous seasons. One thing we do know is that the Premier League Darts, which should under normal conditions, get going in February, has been delayed until further notice in the hope that they can bring the game to as many fans as possible, a critical element of the Premier League which travels from venue to venue each Thursday for three months.

All the same, the 2021 Premier League Darts line up has been announced. This year the PDC have done away with the weekly local contender element in the tourney’s structure as play reverts back to 10 weekly regulars.

These are, new world No 1 Gerwyn Price, five times winner Michael van Gerwen, reigning champion Glen Durrant, Peter Wright, Gary Anderson, Rob Cross and Nathan Aspinall. 2020 PDC winners Dimitri van den Bergh and Jose de Sousa will make their debuts, while the final player will be announced after The Masters later this month.

In other news, the upcoming PDC Darts Masters, the season’s traditional curtain raiser, will be expanded from 16 players to 24 players, with this year’s tournament beginning on January 29 and finishing on 31 at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.

PDC 2021 FULL DARTS TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

JANUARY

• 29 – 31, January (Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes) The Darts Masters

FEBRUARY

• No events scheduled yet
• 2021 Darts Premier League delayed

MARCH

• 5 – 7 March (Butlin’s Minehead Resort) UK Open

APRIL

• No events scheduled yet

MAY

• No events scheduled yet

JUNE

• 4 – 5 June (Madison Square Garden, New York City) US Darts Masters
• 11 – 13 June (Forum Copenhagen, Denmark) Nordic Darts Masters

JULY

• 17 – 25 July (Winter Gardens, Blackpool) World Matchplay of Darts

AUGUST

• 6 – 7 August (WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong) New South Wales Darts Masters
• 13 – 14 August (Townsville Entertainment & Convention Centre) Queensland Darts Masters
• 20 – 21 August (Claudelands Arena, Hamilton) NZ Darts Masters

SEPTEMBER

• TBC: (Numerous Venues) Champions League of Darts (Unconfirmed)
• TBC: (Numerous Venues) World Series of Darts Finals (Unconfirmed)
• TBC: (Victoria Stadium, Gibraltar) Gibraltar Darts Trophy European Tour (Unconfirmed)

OCTOBER

• TBC: (Citywest Hotel, Dublin) Darts World Grand Prix (Unconfirmed)
• TBC: (Germany) European Championship Darts (Unconfirmed)

NOVEMBER

• TBC: (Aldersley Leisure Village, Wolverhampton) Grand Slam of Darts (Unconfirmed)
• TBC: (Butlin’s Minehead Resort) Players Championship Finals (Unconfirmed)

DECEMBER

• TBC (Alexandra Palace, London) 2022 PDC Darts World Championship (Unconfirmed)

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Last Four Reached In Ally Pally Championships

After two and a half weeks of top-level darts, we have finally reached our final four of this year’s PDC Darts World Championships at the Alexandra Palace. Monday evening sees the semi-finals get going at 19.00 in London before the final takes place on New Year’s Day at the same time.

There won’t be too many surprised to learn that this foursome includes the names of Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright, Gerwyn ‘The Iceman’ Price and ‘Mighty’ Michael van Gerwen. These three top ten players will be joined by the world number 12 and former semi-finalist here Nathan ‘The Asp’ Aspinall.

A review of PDC Darts World Championship action so far

This week we said our goodbyes to Fallon Sherrock, whose life-changing week has seen her called up to ALL World Series of Darts events as well as potentially representing herself in the Darts Premier League as one of the nine challengers the PDC have announced will return (more on this next week).

The first-ever lady to win here was unable to win three in a row and was shot down by ‘Hollywood’ Chris Dobey. Gary Anderson also bowed out at the hands of semi-finalist Aspinall, while Daryl Gurney couldn’t get past Glen Durrant, who went on to meet Gerwyn Price in the quarter-finals on Sunday.

Sunday’s afternoon sessions saw an electric Peter Wright produce his highest-ever World Championship average in a dominant 5-3 victory over Luke Humphries, who had himself taken care of Kim Huybrechts 4-1 in the last eight. Snakebite averaged 105.86 and landed 12 maximums against an opponent he hadn’t previously faced and went on to win 5-3.

Storming into a two-set lead, World Youth champion Humphries took the third set following a missed double 12 from Wright. He reset himself over the break to come firing on all cylinders in the fourth, taking it with minimum fuss courtesy of a pair of 11 and 12 darters plus a bullseye finish to move into a 3-1 lead. After ‘Cool Hand’ Luke claimed two legs for himself to frighten, as is customary, any backers of Snakebite, the Scot recomposed himself and closed out the match.

Nathan Aspinall has made the semi-finals once again after fighting off the heavy resistance of Dimitri van den Bergh. The Belgian looked at ease in the early rounds, taking the first set unchallenged, before the Asp rallied and drew level. There wasn’t much to choose between them and the match looked like going to the wire before van den Bergh wobbled handing Aspinall the opportunity he required to take control of the match, taking the next three legs on double eight to move into a clear lead for the first time.

Trailing 4-1, van den Bergh at last found some form, reeling off the following three legs to reduce the lead to 4-2. He then took out 79, 80 and 70 to get within a set before Aspinall took the following three legs to complete a 5-3 victory and book a semi-final date with Michael van Gerwen.

In the evening sessions, Mighty Mike took care of Darius Labanauskas, who had actually won the first set. The Lithuanian, who sustained an unusual finger injury early in the third set when he accidentally stabbed himself with a dart, drawing blood, would later claim a second and will strongly regret messing up his chance of a third with a missed bullseye as MVG, far from his best, marches on. In truth, knowing MVG, his lacklustre performance probably owed more to saving something in the tank for the later rounds but, nevertheless, the Dutchman needed 21 darts to finish his opponent in the seventh set.

The world number one and defending champion took sets two, three and four as he upped his game. Lucky D found extra to take the fifth following some sloppy play from van Gerwen who took the sixth in a whitewash and the seventh following no less than six missed Labanauskas’ darts for the set.

In the last game of the night, Gerwyn Price beat Glen Durrant 5-1 with the Welshman averaging just under 100 in a very one-sided affair. Only the first set went down to the wire, the rest were all taken with relative ease by The Iceman, save for the third which Duzza took to simply prolong the inevitable. The pair actually posted similar averages at the oche, suggesting things were closer than the scoreline suggests but, in truth, this affair was over pretty quickly.

World Darts Championships Semi-Finals Betting Tips

With 25 titles between them – 14 of which were claimed by one player– this year’s final four includes no shock names. Only Nathan Aspinall is drawn from outside the top ten and he made the semis here last year. Plus, by the time the new order of merit is posted, it will include the Asp’s name anyway, so we have a fitting final four left to battle it out for the Sid Waddell Trophy.

What price then witnessing a nine-dart finish with such quality on show? 8/1 say Betway. Two? 66/1!

Michael van Gerwen is the defending champion and the 1/6 favourite to end the Asp’s second successive semi-final run here and 1/2 to win his fourth Championship title. MVG has played largely in cruise mode these past few weeks which is ominous for anyone looking to dethrone him.

Aspinall, 28, is rising in the game though and has shown great character coming through a much tougher route. If MVG plays as sloppy as he did on Sunday, the UK Open and US Darts Masters champion might be able to take advantage and produce the unthinkable.

The Asp is 4/1 to oust Mighty Mike and 14/1 to win his first world title on Wednesday, both with Betway. Aspinall won’t be worried about his first televised meeting with Michael van Gerwen, who he’s already beaten twice this season including a remarkable 6-1 mauling back in February, albeit in a Players Championship event in Wigan.

Last year, Aspinall took out Gerwyn Price in the second round when still considered to be a 500/1 tournament outsider, a match the Asp cites as his personal turning point. Safe to say, both players have come a long way since then.

Soon to be installed as the new world number two, Gerwyn Price and his opponent, the erratic Peter Wright, could both have fallen at their first hurdle but now stand on the cusp of the World Championship final, a first for both players. Snakebite, who so often shows wildly different form in a match went to a sudden-death leg against Noel Malicdem, where he performed fantastically. For Price, William O’Connor’s maths mishap let him off the hook after which he has barely thrown a wayward arrow all the way to tonight’s semi-final.

Wright, who on Sunday produced the highest recorded set average of 123.83 at the Championships for two years, is in sharp form right now. There will be, at some point, an inevitable drop in form, the likes of which Price may not suffer. The Iceman does have the mental edge over the popular Snakebite, who despite rising opinions of Gerwyn Price, will have the Ally Pally crowd behind him.

Still, The Iceman is 8/13 to see off Snakebite for a reason and ranked as 7/2 to win the event outright. As for Snakey, he can be backed at 13/10 to win on Monday and 7/1 to be the world champion come Wednesday evening.

Monday December 30 (1900)

Semi-Finals (Best of 11 sets)

• Michael van Gerwen v Nathan Aspinall
• Peter Wright v Gerwyn Price

Wednesday January 1 (1900)

Final (Best of 13 sets)

• Winner SF 1 v Winner SF 2

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2020 PDC Darts World Championships Week One Update

In a stunning opening week to the 2020 PDC Darts World Championships, we have said goodbye to Barney forever, crowned our first-ever female match-winner, seen Rob Cross and Michael Smith fall at the first hurdle and Gerwyn Price and Peter Wright survive by the skin of their teeth. Safe to say, it’s been emotional.

Yes, the tournament has been bust wide open by two of the top five being eliminated early on and Thursday that number nearly became three when number two seed Gerwyn Price survived thanks to some dodgy maths from his opponent William O’Connor in the deciding set.

Thursday

The favourite from the bottom half of the draw, and the man hotly tipped to meet Michael van Gerwen in the final on New Year’s Day, found himself down 2 to 1 sets in a first to three match and playing well below standard when he was left facing match darts from his Irish opponent. The Iceman was required to win a deciding leg to force the fifth set where he again found himself down 2-1. A hold of throw forced the issue into a tie-break where O’Connor’s numbers let him down.

Miscounting the twos he required, O’Connor instead took aim at two ones which let Price back in, a miraculous reprieve he didn’t really deserve. Nevertheless, the Welshman didn’t turn the opportunity down and broke throw from 75 before sending the Irishman packing with a clinical 13-darter. Also on Thursday, Dave Chisnall defeated Vincent van der Voort 3-1 to move into the next round.

Friday

Friday saw much of the same from a festive Peter Wright who was required to play a sudden-death leg against Pilipino star Noel Malicdem. After five wild sets, week one drew to a dramatic close as the great entertainer, Snakebite — dressed as an elf — looked to be another big name heading for an early exit. In the deciding match, Wright found himself 2-1 behind and chasing a close of 302, while Malicdem required only 121. Malicdem then missed his match dart and Snakey stole the leg in dramatic fashion, checking out flawlessly.

The match was typical Peter Wright and it went to a sudden-death game with closest to the bull throwing first. Snakebite found the bull perfectly, then opened up the leg with a 180, a 140 before hitting the one twice, just to worry his fanbase who were now in full voice. The Scotsman then pinned double 16 for a 13-darter. Brilliance and madness in one crazy package as Wright, who fell at the first last year, moves on to the next round.

The first woman win at the PDC World Championshio

History was made at the Ally Pally this week as Fallon Sherrock became the first woman to win a match at the PDC World Championship, making the global news agenda in the process, even receiving a congratulatory tweet from American tennis legend Billie Jean King.

Beating Ted Evetts 3-2, the 25-year-old Sherrock won £15,000 for that one match, £3,000 more than she picked for winning the BDO World Championships Ladies event outright, while she spent the following morning she met Piers Morgan on a visit to the Good Morning Britain studios, so it wasn’t all good news. At least she got to beat him in a three-dart challenge.

Earlier in the week, Japanese star Mikuru Suzuki, the other competing lady, narrowly missed out on beating Sherrock to it when she just lost 3-2 to James Richardson. On Sunday, the Ally Pally crowd had cheered enthusiastically for Suzuki. Sherrock was treated to much of the same as 2,000-strong crowd rooting for the Milton Keynes star.

Sherrock will now go on and meet Mensur Suljovic this Saturday evening in the second round. As a further reward for her efforts, Sherrock has been confirmed to appear at the 2020 US Darts Masters next June, which has moved from Las Vegas to Madison Square Garden in New York for the first time.

Saturday and the rest of the week

On Saturday, night two of this year’s tourney, the 2018 champion Rob Cross caved to a pathetic 3-0 defeat to Kim Huybrechts. The reigning World Matchplay and European Championship winner and world number two saved his worst performance for the biggest stage of all, managing to land just two legs and even busting from 130 in the third set. A flatlining Voltage averaged a mere 89.64 while he also spurned 11 of his 13 darts at doubles.

A few nights later, Michael ‘Bully Boy’ Smith joined Rob Cross, and Ian White for that matter, on the eliminated list. Smith was shot down by rising star Luke Woodhouse for whom this victory represented the biggest scalp of his career, even accounting for the Players Championship Finals win over Daryl Gurney. Woodhouse averaged 97.81 and hit five maximums, while Bully Boy’s average of 95.69 was well below his usual high standards.

No such concerns showed themselves for world number one Michael van Gerwen. MVG powered through to the third round despite a poor start to the match. The three-time world champion was paired against fellow Dutchman Jelle Klaasen and it was actually Klaasen that took the first set after fighting back from 2-0 down before finding himself 2-1 up in the second set. Mighty Mike then roared into action to take over the match and eventually send his countryman packing with a 3-1 victory.

Gary Anderson will also play in the third round after he cruised through his opener against Brendan Dolan 3-0. The Flying Scotsman showed glimpses of his best as he took the first five legs unchallenged by his opponent leaving many forecasting a whitewash. Dolan quickly pinched a leg but it really didn’t interrupt Anderson’s momentum as he saw out the rest of the match with ease.

For those watching Anderson’s progress, and there will be many after this performance, his route to the semi-final has been made all the easier after the elimination of Michael Smith from his side of the draw.

Raymong van Barneveld bows out for the last time

The first week also brought us some sadness too as people’s champion Raymond van Barneveld lost his opening match and now says goodbye to the Ally Pally forever. Darin Young was the man who bought an end to one of the most distinguished darts careers ever with a 3-1 win. The five-time world champion and his millions of Barney Army fans around the world were willing him on to enjoy one last deep run on the biggest stage of all but it wasn’t to be.

Barney won four BDO titles from 1998, 1999, 2003, 2005 before winning a PDC world title in 2007 when he beat Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor in an all-time classic, ensuring he remains a legend of darts. Not that he sees it that way, at least not in the immediacy of defeat.

In one of the saddest, albeit emotional, post-match interviews ever Barney reflected; “I lost the first round, in my disaster year. I will never forgive myself, never ever. It has been a nightmare end to a nightmare year. The demons won again, I never felt comfortable in the whole match. I’m a loser. Every day is a disappointment in my life. Proud of what? That’s all in the past, I can’t live with myself for this. Never ever. It [legacy] doesn’t matter. I don’t belong at this high level anymore and that’s what I’ve got to tell myself for the rest of my life.” Chin up, Barney and farewell.

PDC World Championship Darts Betting Tips

The second round of the 2020 PDC World Darts Championship comes to a close on Saturday as two times Ally Pally champ Adrian ‘Jackpot’ Lewis takes on Cristo Reyes, Daryl Gurney meets Justin Pipe, Glen Durrant opens up his campaign against Damon Heta and, perhaps most excitedly, Mensur Suljovic faces ladies heroine Fallon Sherrock.

A first week in which the big names have taken a hit has had a dramatic effect on the outright betting market. While MVG moves backwards to evens, Gerwyn Price is now valued at 9/2. Gary Anderson’s route to the final has opened up thanks to Michael Smith’s elimination. Naturally, this has brought his price in at Betway to 12/1. The same price is offered on Peter Wright, while Dave Chisnall is now rated at 16/1. Glen Durrant is 33/1 as is James Wade, and Daryl Gurney 40/1, all with Betway.

2020 PDC World Championships schedule

Saturday December 21

Second Round (Best of 5 sets)

• Keegan Brown v Seigo Asada (Second Round)
• Simon Whitlock v Harry Ward (Second Round)
• Steve West v Ryan Searle (Second Round)
• Adrian Lewis v Cristo Reyes (Second Round)
• Daryl Gurney v Justin Pipe (Second Round)
• Glen Durrant v Damon Heta (Second Round)
• Mensur Suljovic v Fallon Sherrock (Second Round)
• Dimitri Van den Bergh v Josh Payne (Second Round)

Sunday December 22

Third Round (Best of 7 sets)

• Jonny Clayton v Stephen Bunting
• Darius Labanauskas v Max Hopp
• Nathan Aspinall v Krzysztof Ratajski
• James Wade v Steve Beaton
• Kim Huybrechts v Danny Noppert
• Michael van Gerwen v Ricky Evans

Monday December 23

Third Round (Best of 7 sets)

• Nico Kurz v Luke Humphries
• Lewis/Reyes v Darren Webster
• Luke Woodhouse v Van den Bergh/Payne
• Dave Chisnall v Jeffrey De Zwaan
• Gary Anderson v West/Searle
• Peter Wright v Brown/Asada

Friday December 27

Third Round (Best of 7 sets)

• Whitlock/Ward v Mervyn King
• Suljovic/Sherrock v Chris Dobey
• Gurney/Pipe v Durrant/Heta
• Gerwyn Price v John Henderson

Saturday December 28

Fourth Round (Best of 7 sets)

• Six Matches

Sunday December 29

Quarter-Finals (Best of 9 sets)

• Four Matches

Monday December 30

Semi-Finals (Best of 11 sets)

• Two Matches

Wednesday January 1

• Final (Best of 13 sets)

QUICK GLANCE AT THE 2020 PDC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP DARTS

Venue: Alexandra Palace, London
Dates: Friday 13.12.2019 to Wednesday 01.01.2020
Format: Best of 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13 sets
Current Champion: Michael van Gerwen
Where To Watch: Sky Sports
When To Watch: (1230, 1900 GMT)

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