This was the craziest game at the World Darts Championship
Germany's best darts player Gabriel Clemens meets Man Lok Leung from Hong Kong in his opening World Championship match. Despite an initial disaster, the 24-year-old managed the biggest sensation of the tournament so far on Monday evening.
Gabriel Clemens already had a hunch when he was asked about his first opponent in London's Alexandra Palace in the run-up to the World Championships. Everyone agreed that it would be the up-and-coming Dutchman Gian van Veen. However, Clemens did not forget his opening opponent, Man Lok Leung from Hong Kong. "He's not that bad either, he can play darts well," commented Clemens in the direction of Leung, who is only known to darts experts.
Clemens himself had already played against Leung at the Team World Championships in June, when he and doubles partner Martin Schindler clearly beat Team Hong Kong in the preliminary round. Although Leung didn't strike fear into his opponents at the time, Clemens was determined to avoid the mistake of underestimating a potential opponent in the run-up to the World Championships.
That turned out to be absolutely right on Monday evening in the "Ally Pally". Van Veen won the first set with a bit of luck, but was shown his limits from the second set onwards. Leung played himself into a frenzy, throwing one 180 after the other. Only the doubles didn't work in the second set. Leung missed an incredible twelve darts to win the set. Even the outstanding scoring didn't help.
Leung averaged 99 points in the second half of the match, van Veen only scored a weak 75 points, but still won the set. That's like FC Bayern losing to Clemens' favorite club 1. FC Saarbrücken despite scoring 18:4 goals. Happens at most one time in a hundred.
Training during work
It is also quite rare for a qualifier to win their World Cup debut after being 2-0 down. Man Lok Leung achieved this feat. A whopping eleven 180s were in Leung's statistics at the end of the match. And suddenly the 24-year-old also hit the doubles.
Gian van Veen looked more desperate by the minute and was unable to build on his strong debut year on the professional tour. The 19-year-old Dutchman has been predicted to have a great future, and not just since reaching the semi-finals at the European Championships in October, but on this evening only the man from Hong Kong came up trumps in the "Ally Pally".
"I'm so happy because I never thought I could win this game," Leung admitted afterwards. His work as an employee in a darts store in Hong Kong probably also helped. "When there are no customers in the store, I go to the board," Leung reported on his unusual training routine.
Kick-off for Horvat, Pietreczko and van Gerwen
Gerwyn Price progressed to the next round of the World Championship in the evening in a less memorable but extremely confident manner. The "Iceman" won 3:0 against Connor Scutt and only lost two legs against the English outsider. "It was a decent performance, but I've still got a lot more in the tank," was the conclusion of the 2021 World Champion. "Hopefully I'll come back a bit better and more rested after Christmas."
Of course, Michael van Gerwen also wants to be back after Christmas. The darts superstar from the Netherlands wants to finally win his fourth world title, his first after five years without a triumph. The first hurdle on the way to the final on January 3 should pose no problems for "MvG". This Tuesday evening, the out-of-form Irishman Keane Barry awaits.
Before Michael van Gerwen takes to the stage in front of 3,000 spectators at the "Ally Pally", the darts evening will be dominated by the Germans: Dragutin Horvat, qualified for the World Championship for the first time since 2017, plays Belgium's Mike De Decker (9pm, Sport1/Dazn). Ricardo Pietreczko will also start the tournament directly afterwards. His opponent is Mikuru Suzuki from Japan, the last remaining woman in the field.
The German is clearly the nominally better player, but potential problems could lurk away from the dartboard. The crowd will probably cheer on Suzuki and boo Pietreczko - at least occasionally. Recently, the German darts shooting star of the year was unable to cope with such situations at all.
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Leung's impressive performance in the World Darts Championship continued, as he faced Michael van Gerwen in his next match. Despite the pressure, Leung maintained his form and gave van Gerwen a tough challenge, showcasing that he is not just known to darts experts.
Despite being the favorite, van Gerwen struggled in the match against Leung. The 24-year-old from Hong Kong managed to land several 180s and put up a strong fight, making it clear that he was not an easy opponent for the darts superstar.
Source: www.ntv.de
