tournament in London
“Played shit”: German darts duo out of the World Cup
Couldn’t repeat his success from the previous year: Gabriel Clemens. photo
© Steven Paston/PA Wire/dpa
There were only two left. Gabriel Clemens and Martin Schindler are eliminated from the World Cup. It could be completely over for the German darts professionals in London as early as Thursday.
After the fantastic start to the World Cup before Christmas, the German professionals around hopeful Clemens quickly became disillusioned again.
The 40-year-old from Saarland clearly lost 4-1 to world-class professional Chisnall from England in London. Martin Schindler had previously had to admit defeat 3-4 against English outsider Scott Williams after a thrilling game.
“Can you say the word with sh on TV? Then simply because I played shit. Especially the first three sentences,” Clemens explained to Sport1 about his defeat, in which he largely had no chance. A year after his unexpected World Cup coup, when he led Prime Minister Gerwyn Price from Wales and sensationally stormed into the semi-finals, there is no further surprise at the famous Alexandra Palace.
Clemens: “It won’t do any good if I cry around”
“I think you could see that I tried. It’s hard to turn 0-3. Unfortunately, I didn’t succeed either,” said the German Giant, as Clemens is called. The 40-year-old from Saarland has been in good form recently, reaching the semi-finals of the Players Championship Finals and thus raising World Cup hopes.
Clemens was correspondingly disappointed; he would need some time to process things after the journey home. “It’ll take a while. But it won’t help if I cry or scream around here. I’ll let it sink in and pick up darts again next year,” said Clemens.
Florian Hempel and Ricardo Pietreczko are now the two remaining German players. Hempel will challenge Stephen Bunting from England on Thursday (1:30 p.m./DAZN and Sport1). Pietreczko, nicknamed Pikachu, is up against top English favorite Luke Humphries.
Schindler loses despite leading the set 2-0
Schindler was actually credited with having the best chances of reaching the round of 16. The 27-year-old from Strausberg lost to Williams after a 2-0 lead. In the round of the last 16, the unseeded outsider Williams will face the winner of the game between the Australian Damon Heta and Berry van Peer from the Netherlands.
“A few times I had one or two darts on the doubles and I didn’t use them. That’s why I lost,” said Schindler after the game. “But in the end it doesn’t matter who was the better player. I lost and that’s what counts.”
As in the 3-1 opening win over Dutchman Jermaine Wattimena, Schindler got off to a strong start, but this time he let up a lot. The German number two missed numerous chances, especially in the third and fourth sets. Even in the exciting decisive set, Schindler was unable to reach the desired level. Clemens and Schindler will therefore remain outside the top 20 in the world rankings after the World Cup.