Kai Gotthardt has to interrupt his World Cup debut in the Ally Pally after a few minutes due to a broken arrow. But the German is undeterred and storms into the next round.
Kai Gotthardt’s successful World Cup debut in the Ally Pally was caused by a strange failure. The German newcomer won impressively 3-1 in sets against the Scot Alan Soutar and thus moved into the second round of the World Cup of Darts.
But his game did not go well at first: the barrel of one of Gotthardt’s darts broke in the fourth leg of the first set. This fault forced him to interrupt the game briefly.
Nervous? Not by Gotthardt
“I have been playing with the same set of darts for over four years. It never happened to me! And now suddenly, after more than four years, I’m losing darts here on the biggest stage in the world,” explained Gotthardt after the match. SPORTS1. “I didn’t know how to react. I stayed calm and pushed through.”
Was Gotthardt nervous during his coup? “I’m not the type of person, I can’t explain it. It’s a game like no other, even if it’s the biggest stage in the world. “I don’t do this any differently than I do at other competitions,” said the Super League Champion afterwards.
Gotthardt’s broken arrow: “That was crazy”
The German could not explain how exactly the barrel broke because he was very much in focus. Gotthardt deliberately did not bring a spare arrow with him on stage: “I thought to myself: ‘No, nothing has happened to you for four and a half years. You don’t take anything with you. And just then he cuts me off. That was crazy.”
During the transmission show up SPORTS1– Commentator Basti Schwele expressed: “That’s not there! The barrel is broken. Bye time. I don’t remember anything like this ever happening at a World Cup.”
Expert Robert Marijanovic also responded in disbelief: “The tips can break off, the shaft can break off, the fly can break off. But a broken barrel?”
Gotthardt turns up the heat after a break
Since Gotthardt didn’t have a spare set ready on stage, the 29-year-old had to go to the catacombs to find a replacement. He exchanged the defective arrow for another. His opponent Soutar did not let the break affect him and celebrated widely with the fans. After a few minutes the game could continue.
As a result, Soutar secured the first series, but Gotthardt seemed to have replaced them after the barrel disaster: In the second series, Gotthardt shone with a 95 to 11-darter finish and the hometown Baden -Württemberg the 2-0 out. on Crops. Then Gotthardt missed six sixes and Soutar reduced the lead to 1:2. But the Scotsman failed to score and Gotthardt equalized in sets. “An Tollán” even took the third set without losing a leg.
The Germans took a quick 2-0 lead in the fourth set, but lost an early decider when Soutar equalized to make it 2-2. In the decider, Gotthardt missed a single pitch four times to go for a double, but Soutar didn’t capitalize on his check chances either. With 11 points left, Gotthardt missed the first 3 singles, his first dart landed on a 3 double. But then the German kept his composure, the former player turned a dart into a single 1 accurately and the first dart into a double 2.
The 29-year-old then erupted and celebrated his move to the next round ecstatically. Gotthardt will then meet Stephen Bunting, the eighth seed, on Friday.