Kai Gotthardt won the Darts Super League. The 29-year-old dramatically secured his ticket to the Darts World Cup. The decider also had to decide in the final. After the biggest success of his career, he injured himself while cheering.
Kai Gotthardt is a colossus. Big and wide – an impressive appearance. After the biggest victory of his career, he heaved his body onto the stage on his stomach. There was a drama behind the Esslinger, but now it was done. He won the final of the PDC Europe Super League against Paul Krohne in Hildesheim with 8:7 and thus secured his ticket to the World Darts Championship in London, which begins on December 15th.
Since Tuesday, 30 players, 29 Germans and the Austrian Patrick Tringler, had played in Hall 39 for the ticket to Alexandra Palace. After a two-day group phase, the round of 16 took place on Thursday. The final round followed on Friday evening.
“It’s indescribable. My biggest dream has come true,” said Krohne, who injured his nose and bled as he fell onto the stage in celebration. But he didn’t care at all. “I thought about this victory a lot. I knew I could rock the thing,” he said and looked back again: “I won every knockout game in the decider and my nerves held out. That’s the most important thing.”
In the round of 16 it was 6:5 against Max Hopp, and the quarter-finals against Franz Rötzsch also ended with the same result after his opponent had already missed a match dart on double 19. Afterwards, Gotthardt and his followers were relieved in the form of tears.
Things became even more dramatic in the semifinals when he was already 1:5 behind against Dominik Grüllich, but then turned the match into a 7:6 before Krohne felt the nerves of the 29-year-old Gotthardt in the final.
Both had previously prevailed against some prominent names. The former World Cup participants Max Hopp, Rene Eidams and Andree Welge were eliminated in the round of 16. The tour card holders Lukas Wenig and Daniel Klose also did not reach the quarter-finals. Nico Kurz even missed out on making it to the round of 16. For defending champion Dragutin Horvat, who has taken part in all twelve events so far, it was over in the semi-finals – against Krohne.
The only positive news for Horvat at 0:7 came after the sixth leg, when both players ended the match and hugged each other. The audience applauded and veteran Horvat congratulated, but was then pointed out that the format from the semi-finals onwards requires winning seven legs to win. However, the strange situation did not bring about a turnaround.
Krohne had already treated the 300 spectators in Hildesheim to spectacular darts. The 6:4 in the quarterfinals against Leon Weber, the discovery of the tournament, was based on an average of 97.38, and in the semifinals against Horvat he even ended up with an average of 97.42 points.
He also played a 93.28 in the final and tried a masterpiece in a precarious situation. After conceding the 6:7, the 23-year-old from Münster dared a no-look 180 with his first shot when, after two arrows in the triple 20, he turned towards the audience on the last one – but narrowly missed the target.
Like its premiere at Alexandra Palace. Gotthardt is now experiencing this, as he is going to the Darts World Cup like Martin Schindler, Gabriel Clemens, Ricardo Pietreczko, Florian Hempel and Niko Springer. This means that for the first time in history, six Germans have qualified for the annual highlight at Alexandra Palace. And there could be even more to come on November 25th, when the last three World Cup tickets are awarded at a qualifying tournament.
The Super League also underlined with a series of outstanding performances how much the standard in Germany has improved in recent months and years.
If Lutz Wöckener isn’t just anyone Sport in self-experimentation tried it out, he writes about darts and sports politics, but sometimes also something off-kilter like football.
Results PDC Super League
Round of 16
Dragutin Horvat – Steven Noster 6:1
Pascal Rupprecht – Daniel Klose 6:3
Lukas Wenig – Paul Krohne 4:6
Leon Weber – Arno Brand 6:4
Kai Gotthardt – Max Hopp 6:5
Franz Roetzsch – Rene Eidams 6:4
Dominik Grüllich – Andree Welge 6:4
Kevin Troppmann – Liam Maendl-Lawrence 6:5
Quarterfinals
Dragutin Horvat – Pascal Rupprecht 6:3
Paul Krohne – Leon Weber 6:4
Kai Gotthardt – Franz Roetzsch 6:5
Dominik Grüllich – Kevin Troppmann 6:2
Semifinals
Dragutin Horvat – Paul Krohne 0:7
Kai Gotthardt – Dominik Grüllich 7:6
Endgame
Paul Krohne – Kai Gotthardt 7:8
