Michael van Gerwen reached the semi-finals of the World Cup of Darts (4-1) on Friday night without much effort at the expense of Dirk van Duijvenbode, but after that it was mostly down to Van Duijvenbode’s slow play. “Aubergenius” denied wanting to eliminate Van Gerwen from his quick play, while Van Gerwen was sure he did it knowingly.
Thirty-year-old Van Duijvenbode seemed to be taking a long time before his turn, especially in the first two sets. “It wasn’t a tactic at all,” Van Duijvenbode flatly denied. “You know what that tactic is? The first two rounds I had the table left and now I had the table right. So I had to take three more steps.”
“I do exactly the same thing as in the first two rounds. Only then did I get the table where I could walk straight to the oche. Because I’m placed lower, I got the table right. This is certainly not a tactic. It’s just others three, four steps I have to take.”
Van Gerwen disagreed with Van Duijvenbode’s reasoning at the following press conference. “You deny that you slowed me down? Yes, bye. Kiss my ass,” said the three-time world champion with a big smile.
“Everyone saw it, right? But it doesn’t matter. You know what it is, that boy is obviously very disappointed. I’m going to be very lenient with him now. If he doesn’t realize he was slowing me down, something is wrong.” .”
“Of course he tried to slow me down”
According to the 33-year-old Van Gerwen, there is no doubt that Van Duijvenbode deliberately wanted to knock him out of his quick game. “Of course he tried to slow me down, he knows it himself,” continued the man from Brabant.
“But don’t blame him. He wasn’t in his game at all. And I have to say honestly, in round two he wasn’t in his game and in round three he wasn’t even in his game. , like a cat with seven lives”.
Van Gerwen could understand that Van Duijvenbode denied deliberately slowing him down. “That guy has got to say something. Though it would have been a lot easier for him if he’d just said he’d tried everything and it didn’t work out. it’s sour. It’s also a World Cup for him. But only one can be the winner and luckily it was me.”
Van Duijvenbode hopes Van Gerwen will become world champion
Although Van Duijvenbode was disappointed with his own game, the Katwijker was also realistic. “He was just the best today,” the world number fourteen continued on Van Gerwen.
“And I respect him completely. He’s only been the best this year and for me it’s just a shame he has to go against him. He’s basically just the number one favourite, even though he finished third. It’s just bad luck for me, but it’s no different. I hope he wins, I’m like that. I wish him all the best.”
When the interview with Van Duijvenbode ended, Van Gerwen came over. The two greeted each other with a big hug and a kiss on the cheek and then both separated.
