Dirk van Duijvenbode knows his hard defeat on Friday in the quarter finals of the World Cup darts in London against Gary Anderson to “external factors”. The South Hollander got distracted in the second set by something on the podium, but he did not want to say what afterwards.
“I think I’m a bad loser. It’s something that is always there and I couldn’t stand it at the time. It was also the reason why I missed crucial doubles against Durrant and was behind 3-1. That is my lack. I will learn from this and hopefully I will do it better next time, although I personally do not think it is possible to work on it, “said Van Duijvenbode.
The number 43 in the world started the match well. He immediately took the first set from Anderson, but failed to double the lead as he missed a total of four doubles at the end of the second set. Then he saw Anderson, who scored and was a lot better on the doubles, run away quickly.
“I think if I had made it 2-0, I would have won big”, says Van Duijvenbode. “I couldn’t get it out of my system. I still tried to boost myself. I thought: boy, don’t be like that, let it go. But I couldn’t. Then you stand … The biggest match in your life and then you cannot put something like that away from you and you lose as a result. “
Dirk van Duijvenbode and Gary Anderson have fun with each other.
Dirk van Duijvenbode and Gary Anderson have fun with each other. Photo: ANP
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‘The real goal was the semi-finals’
Van Duijvenbode, who only took part in the World Cup for the second time and recaptured his Tour card at the beginning of this year, could nevertheless look back on a good tournament. He stunted against Rob Cross in the second round and Glen Durrant in the fourth round, which will see him rise to the top 32 of the world rankings.
“I hit the minimum goal, but the real goal was the semifinals. I had a really good feeling beforehand and didn’t see myself losing to anyone outside the top three, but Anderson was really good. It would be weird if I didn’t. I am satisfied with this tournament. You cannot complain with a quarter-final place as number 43 in the world. “
Van Duijvenbode does not think that there will be more pressure on his shoulders after this World Cup. Due to his quarter-final place here and his surprising final place at the World Grand Prix in October, expectations among outsiders will be higher. Thanks to his top 32 ranking, he is in any case already assured of qualification for next year’s World Cup.
“There is no more pressure on me. Someone else cannot put pressure on me, because I do that enough myself. If other people expect things from me, I can easily put that aside, because I always put an even higher pressure on myself. , so that’s fine. It’s not difficult. I’ve been doing that all my life so I’m used to it. “
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