More Darts in Wolverhampton
After a very long day at the end of which I had walked on very tired legs back to my hotel another very long day followed which I again past most of the time on stage. As the stage in Wolverhampton is not very big one allowed the photographers (and those who pretend they are photographers - in this case only me) to stand in a corner on stage which can't be seen on TV. But this good idea has a hitch - either you leave the stage after the warm-up darts or you have to stay the complete match in the corner. We already discussed whether we shouldn't put some chairs there.
Being on stage is an interesting experience. Everywhere you can find cables and not in use tripods and not everywhere the stage has a handrail. But till now we all rode it out. I have no idea whether the players fell irritated by us standing on stage. Even as we are all dressed in black we are not invisible. You of course have a good overview standing on stage and I could see that the venue was very packed on Saturday while on Sunday afternoon the gallery was not so well filled and Sunday night it was empty. And you have got a good view on the VIP part of the venue where I this year for the first time spied some of the BDO officials.
The same groups which had played on Saturday afternoon played on Sunday afternoon the second group matches. First up were the losers and after that the winners. Jeff Smith somehow managed to "steal" enough legs from Ted Evetts to win the match, Mensur Suljovic looked more settled on day two and even as Nathan Aspinall stormed into a lead he managed a win. Gerwyn Price and James Hughes were the other tow who managed to set things straight though at the expense of two big names like Dave Chisnall and Scott Waites. Then the winners were under way and in all four matches the seeded players won which meant James Wade and Peter Wright already qualified for the second round. All in all it was "Business as usual" in the afternoon though I still have no idea why Dave Chisnall seems to be unable to hit a double.
As my computer has problems with the wifi in the press room I used the break to hurry back to my hotel to update the side. No wifi connection problems there. And I still had half an hour left to eat my salad.
Again in the evening session each player had his own walk-on and again there were a lot of interviews and analysis. Here started the losers as well and Darryl Fitton, Chris Dobey and Glen Durrant showed that they are able to win as well. Max Hopp could celebrate a win over Martin Adams so I feel that is not only positive as Martin Adams due to his illness is not able to play the standard we were used to. But it is good that he manages it to take part at all and probably it is a good thing for him though it looks it wears him out a little bit. Strange was that Adrian Lewis lost his second match as well and is out of the tournament.
The evening ended with matches of three Top Guns and the match between Benito van de Pas and Scott Mitchell. Phil Taylor didn't play well but defeated Ian White 5:1 and qualified for round two. Gary Anderson didn't play well either but whitewashed Nathan Derry and qualified as well for the next round. Michael van Gerwen as almost every time improved a lot in his second match and it was a surprise that Brendan Dolan managed to win a leg. Scott Mitchell played now way near his first match but he didn't win. In this match Benito van de Pas won and qualified by this for the next round.
As some fast players were around in the evening it was not too late when I returned to my hotel. Nevertheless I was tired. But I did my updates!!! It had been in some parts a strange day. Strange that Adrian Lewis managed to lose with a 108.68 average. Taylor had felt it was a strange day as well - how could it happen he played such a weak match. Why Scott Mitchell's average was around 25 points less on Sunday I can't explain either nor can I Dave Chisnall's missing doubles. I already look forward to the last group matches!!!
After a very long day at the end of which I had walked on very tired legs back to my hotel another very long day followed which I again past most of the time on stage. As the stage in Wolverhampton is not very big one allowed the photographers (and those who pretend they are photographers - in this case only me) to stand in a corner on stage which can't be seen on TV. But this good idea has a hitch - either you leave the stage after the warm-up darts or you have to stay the complete match in the corner. We already discussed whether we shouldn't put some chairs there.
Being on stage is an interesting experience. Everywhere you can find cables and not in use tripods and not everywhere the stage has a handrail. But till now we all rode it out. I have no idea whether the players fell irritated by us standing on stage. Even as we are all dressed in black we are not invisible. You of course have a good overview standing on stage and I could see that the venue was very packed on Saturday while on Sunday afternoon the gallery was not so well filled and Sunday night it was empty. And you have got a good view on the VIP part of the venue where I this year for the first time spied some of the BDO officials.
The same groups which had played on Saturday afternoon played on Sunday afternoon the second group matches. First up were the losers and after that the winners. Jeff Smith somehow managed to "steal" enough legs from Ted Evetts to win the match, Mensur Suljovic looked more settled on day two and even as Nathan Aspinall stormed into a lead he managed a win. Gerwyn Price and James Hughes were the other tow who managed to set things straight though at the expense of two big names like Dave Chisnall and Scott Waites. Then the winners were under way and in all four matches the seeded players won which meant James Wade and Peter Wright already qualified for the second round. All in all it was "Business as usual" in the afternoon though I still have no idea why Dave Chisnall seems to be unable to hit a double.
As my computer has problems with the wifi in the press room I used the break to hurry back to my hotel to update the side. No wifi connection problems there. And I still had half an hour left to eat my salad.
Again in the evening session each player had his own walk-on and again there were a lot of interviews and analysis. Here started the losers as well and Darryl Fitton, Chris Dobey and Glen Durrant showed that they are able to win as well. Max Hopp could celebrate a win over Martin Adams so I feel that is not only positive as Martin Adams due to his illness is not able to play the standard we were used to. But it is good that he manages it to take part at all and probably it is a good thing for him though it looks it wears him out a little bit. Strange was that Adrian Lewis lost his second match as well and is out of the tournament.
The evening ended with matches of three Top Guns and the match between Benito van de Pas and Scott Mitchell. Phil Taylor didn't play well but defeated Ian White 5:1 and qualified for round two. Gary Anderson didn't play well either but whitewashed Nathan Derry and qualified as well for the next round. Michael van Gerwen as almost every time improved a lot in his second match and it was a surprise that Brendan Dolan managed to win a leg. Scott Mitchell played now way near his first match but he didn't win. In this match Benito van de Pas won and qualified by this for the next round.
As some fast players were around in the evening it was not too late when I returned to my hotel. Nevertheless I was tired. But I did my updates!!! It had been in some parts a strange day. Strange that Adrian Lewis managed to lose with a 108.68 average. Taylor had felt it was a strange day as well - how could it happen he played such a weak match. Why Scott Mitchell's average was around 25 points less on Sunday I can't explain either nor can I Dave Chisnall's missing doubles. I already look forward to the last group matches!!!