Florian Hempel (31) wants to pull HIM’s teeth today!
The third round match is not only the greatest success of his career for Florian Hempel. Even for his opponent, the Darts World Championship in London on December 27th will surprisingly be continued. “An exotic match against a World Cup debutant – who would have thought that?” Says Raymond Smith in an interview with WELT and laughs.
Facial expressions that sparkle silvery in his mouth and which are reminiscent of his first and only World Cup appearance up to these championships. On December 14, 2018, the Australian was already on stage and involuntarily made for a memorable moment in the history of the tournament.
In the first round match against the Englishman Alan Tabern, Smith was quickly 0-2 sets behind, but fought his way up and acknowledged his set equalization with an emotional cheer, in which his dentures came off the top row. The pictures made headlines back then. Smith, however, lost the decisive round without a bite and was eliminated.
This time he made it to the third round after convincing victories over Jamie Hughes and Devon Petersen and could now even hope for a tour card. With successes against Hempel and the winner of the duel between Steve Lennon and Mervyn King, he would promote Max Hopp from the top 64 and thus enjoy the right to play himself.
“For me that’s not an issue at first. I would have to think about it if it really did come to that. That would mean a very, very exciting conversation, “says Smith, who already has great doubts whether he should actually tackle the adventure in Europe. “My father’s health is not good and I want to be by his side when he dies. I also like my life, my job and the people in my home. “
Death has always been present for him since his brother took his own life in April 2019. “Instead of celebrating his last Christmas with him, I was here in London at the time, had the best time of my life. That preoccupied me a lot after his death. “At that time Smith retired from the sport and considered retiring from his career, suffers from depression himself:” Sometimes life just rolls on, other days I just can’t get out of bed. “
His family is the reason that he found out of the hole again. With his son Ky, who failed in the first round against Maik Kuivenhoven, he formed the first father-son pair at a World Cup at this World Cup. Ky is still available to him as a training partner and moral support. They celebrated Christmas together in London.
With their total prize money of 32,500 pounds, the trip to Great Britain has already been more than worth it for the family from humble backgrounds. Another £ 10,000 could be added.
Smith, who lived alone on a campsite for part of his youth, says, “When I’m feeling good, an average of 100 is no surprise to me. I can still go a long way in this tournament. But Florian has been really great so far. It’s getting interesting. If he plays again like he did against Dimitri van den Bergh, I have to show my best performance. “
This text was created in the sports competence center of BILD, SPORT BILD and WELT and was first published by WELT.
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