Gian van Veen missed out on a place in the final of the European Darts Championship on Sunday. The 21-year-old darts player lost 11-9 against James Wade in an exciting match. Danny Noppert also failed in the semi-finals.
Van Veen, the surprise at the tournament in Germany, defeated Damon Heta (1-6) and Darryl Gurney (10-6) earlier this weekend. This was followed by a nice 10-6 victory over three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen on Sunday afternoon. Wade, too strong for Luke Humphries (10-6) in the quarter-finals, was therefore warned.
Van Veen got out of the starting blocks, reached the 100 average and took a 1-5 lead. Then Wade came back to 4-5, after which Van Veen struck with a nice 167 finish and lifted the margin back to two legs.
Wade was not impressed, came back to 6-6 and was able to take the lead at that score via double-20, but wasted two chances. Van Veen then threw out double 16. The average of Van Veen, who seemed to be increasingly collapsing under the pressure, plummeted to 89.69. Wade recorded 93.63. At 10-9, Van Veen still had the chance to reach 10-10 via double-16, but he failed.
At match dart number four, Wade scored, meaning that not Van Veen, but ‘The Machine’ went to the final. Until the tournament in Dortmund, Van Veen, number 61 on the Order of Merit, ‘only’ raised just under 65,000 euros. Thanks to his performance in Germany, Van Veen can credit more than 45,000 euros.
Summary: Darts sensation Van Veen fails in the European Championship semi-finals
Noppert hands over match against Wright
Noppert had won his quarter-final after a great comeback against Gerwyn Price. The roles were reversed in the semi-final battle. De Fries lost an 8-5 lead and lost 11-8 to Peter Wright.
‘The Freeze’ started his match against the number three in the world strongly. After losing the first leg, Noppert did not miss a finish in the following three legs. The number eight in the world continued his trend and took a 4-2 lead after a 120 finish.
Wright did not succumb to the pressure and overcame it with a 136 finish. The Scot came back to 4-4, but saw his Frisian opponent lead again. The 32-year-old Noppert impressed and took an 8-5 lead. Noppert then collapsed completely, while Wright threw 180 five times throughout the match.
By reaching the semi-finals, Noppert had already achieved his best performance ever at a European Championship. In 2021 and 2022, the quarter-finals were the final destination for the Frisian. In the quarter-finals, Noppert completed a miraculous comeback against Price earlier in the day, after being 7-0 behind: 8-10.
Ultimately, Wright was crowned European champion in Dortmund. He was too strong for Wade in the final 10-6 with an average of 97.39. Wade recorded 92.09.
The post first appeared on www.nu.nl