The darts professional Raymond van Barneveld can be said to have a certain expertise in the field of comebacks. Little seems to be stopping him in this matter, not even his own retirement from darts. The Dutchman would therefore normally smile away at mundane food poisoning – unless the inconvenience occurs a few hours before a World Cup game in which he would like to take part.
Asian cuisine in London is generally highly recommended. However, a Chinese restaurant based in England’s capital had had a bad day – giving comeback world champion van Barneveld an even worse one. “It was a terrible day today,” said van Barneveld into the station’s microphone after the work on the disc was done sports1. He spent the whole day in bed and thought: “If only that goes well.”
It went well, although this was not entirely true of his stomach. Despite everything, the 55-year-old defeated Englishman Ryan Meikle, who was almost 30 years his junior, 3-1. His “Barney Army” fan column, who forgives all setbacks and kicks, celebrated again at Alexandra Palace in London. Now “Barney” meets the “Iceman”, the Welshman Gerwyn Price. Next Tuesday – December 27th, 9.30 p.m. – play two ex-world champions against each other If you like darts, you might want to make a note of the date in your calendar.
Just recently, “Barney” defeated the “Iceman” in a major tournament
Neither of the two has to stop at the Chinese beforehand to give the encounter a special flavor. According to the world rankings, the matter should not pose a problem for Ranger Price – van Barneveld is currently in 32nd place after a break of more than two years. And yet Price should be warned. Because van Barneveld recently pulverized the significance of this list. At the Grand Slam of Darts, one of the most important tournaments on the tour, “Barney” made it into the semi-finals – and on the way there defeated the defending champion, a certain Gerwyn Price. Just in time for the World Cup, the suspicion was confirmed: Barney is back.
That wasn’t necessarily the case. To put it mildly, Van Barneveld has had complicated years: the separation from his wife, bad results on the disc, retirement from darts in 2020, the new relationship with the much younger British Julia Evans. He wanted to have more time with his grandchildren and play a few show tournaments. The pandemic thwarted his plans, not just financial ones. He felt a loss of meaning, boredom – and above all missed one thing: throwing arrows at a disc.
And so the former postman van Barneveld came back on stage. In between, a snowstorm caused the wall of his house to collapse, and he suffered a fainting spell at the tournament in Milton Keynes. He was open about it all, which may be one of the reasons why his “army” follows him to the furthest corners of the planet to see him play. Ideally healthy. In any case, he has survived the food poisoning, after Christmas he will devote himself to the Welshman.