Darts-Party in London
“Could hardly breathe”: fan favorite declares World Cup exit
December 26, 2024 – 4:55 p.mReading time: 1 Min.
Darts star Raymond van Barneveld was surprisingly thrown out of the World Cup right at the start. The reason for this was also his state of health.
After his disappointing exit from the Darts World Cup, veteran Raymond van Barneveld has revealed health problems. “You look forward to it all year long, deliberately not shaking hands for days and doing everything you can not to get sick, and then you get sick,” said the Dutchman a few days after the 3-1 defeat in the opening match against Nick Kenny from Wales told AD.nl: “Then you’re not just a grandfather, you look like one.”
The five-time world champion did not want to talk about his illness on television. “Then people think: That’s his excuse again,” said the 57-year-old: “But when your nose is blocked and you can hardly breathe, then you don’t have the strength to play your game. I didn’t feel any fighting spirit, Just let it happen to me.”
Van Barneveld, who won the PDC World Championship in 2007, is “deeply ashamed of this achievement”. It is still unclear whether and how “Barney’s” career will continue. “I said to myself beforehand: If I don’t have the feeling that I can still win, then what’s the reason for continuing?” the fan favorite explained: “But that feeling was there.”
You never know “how things would have gone without the flu,” said van Barneveld, but he now has to think carefully about whether he wants to “stick around for another year. I don’t think I’m really looking forward to it.”