PDC World Darts Championship 2019

[drahkon]

One of my favourite times of the year is here.
No, not Christmas; I hate Christmas.

It's time for the PDC World Darts Championship 2019. Any enthusiasts here?

 

This year Germany has three players participating and for the first time ever two women will be playing in the tournament.

Tonight Martin Schindler will open the tournament for my country. Our biggest hope, however, lies with Max Hopp. Will he become the first German Darts player to reach the third round? If he does, he will most likely have to play against MvG. Would love to see this happen.

And something else I want to see: The record for most 180s (total in the Championship) being broken. It's currently at 708 from 2017.

 

Edited December 13, 2018 by drahkon

[bob]

Do the German announcers still do the same 180 call that we have in English?

Do they say: Eiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin Hundert und Aaaaaaaaaaachtzig!

[drahkon]

Well, in Germany during tournaments the announcers also call oooooooooone hundreeeeeeed and eeeeiiiightyyyyyy! It just doesn't sound great in our language  

And German commentators just go apeshit when something crazy happens.  

 

[killthenet]

Never expected to see a thread for the darts on here!

Also my favourite thing about the Christmas period @drahkon, I love that we get even more darts this year. I hope there are a few upsets in the early rounds but van Gerwen looks pretty focused on winning it this year so wouldn't put it past him to claim the title again. Gary Anderson is looking in fine form though and the likes of Gerwyn Price, James Wade and Simon Whitlock have been bang in form for much of the latter part of the year so should provide stiff competition.

My favourite player currently is Mensur Sujlovic so I'm hoping he can improve on his best result of reaching the last 16, I just love his enthusiasm and his walk on is up there with the most iconic in the sport. Also want RVB to do something special seeing as its one of his last tournaments.

[drahkon]

I was very annoyed with the crowd during Dekker's and Ashton's match.
Yes, you can cheer as loud as you want for one player, but booing when it's the other one's turn and cheering when he misses his darts...no class.

It was a great match, though. Ashton started incredibly well but Dekker came back just as impressive.

 

Shame that Martin Schindler lost but he said his nerves got the better of him. He had his chances but was too nervous. Can't blame him, though. It was his first match in Ally Pally...of course you're nervous  

[killthenet]

I don't mind when the player is deserving of the crowd getting on their backs but Dekker did nothing to rile them up at all so it was pretty unfair. I think Ashton was a bit too keyed up to begin with, the opening set was so impressive but I think the fact Dekker had played on the Ally Pally stage before gave him the extra composure needed to close out the match.

I only saw the very end of Schindler's match, it looked like a close game. Hopefully Max Hopp can get through and give MVG a good game, the sport seems so big in Germany that it's a shame it doesn't have a real star from there yet. 

[drahkon]

9 minutes ago, killthenet said:

the sport seems so big in Germany that it's a shame it doesn't have a real star from there yet. 

IIRC Germany had the largest viewership last year in this tournament. (maybe it was only for the final, no idea). 

Hopp is still young (heck, he's 22...7 years younger than me ). I think with enough time, practice and experience he could rise up to be a top competitor. 

13 minutes ago, killthenet said:

I don't mind when the player is deserving of the crowd getting on their backs but Dekker did nothing to rile them up at all so it was pretty unfair.

Agree. 

I actually liked how Dekker psyched himself up during the match. It was pretty much a big "fuck you" to the audience  

[killthenet]

Are the darts broadcast on free TV in Germany or are they on a paid for sports channel? In the UK it's only available on Sky Sports, it gets pretty good viewing figures but I think it would do even better if it was on a terrestrial channel.

[drahkon]

4 hours ago, killthenet said:

Are the darts broadcast on free TV in Germany or are they on a paid for sports channel?

The PDC World Darts Championship is on free TV. The other big tournaments are broadcast on paid for sports channels.

I have to say I'm not too happy with the audience this year. They have been quite disrespectful more than once now...it's a shame.

Edited December 15, 2018 by drahkon

[killthenet]

15 minutes ago, drahkon said:

The PDC World Darts Championship is on free TV. The other big tournaments are broadcast on paid for sports channels.

I have to say I'm not too happy with the audience this year. They have been quite disrespectful more than once now...it's a shame.

It was appalling when they threw the drinks over MVG, the tickets for the event are like gold dust and people behave like that, absolute morons. MVG handled it pretty well in the end though.

[killthenet]

James Wade's reaction after winning a set last night was totally out of order and his post-match interview was just bizarre. He has rightly apologised on twitter today but should still face some sort of punishment for his behaviour.

I think the organisers have a real problem with how the tournament is structured this year. So far 8 of the 20 seeds to have played have been knocked out and I think it's down to their opponents having already played a match, whereas the 32 seeds were given a bye into the second round. The unseeded players in the second round have seemed far more settled and comfortable because they've already settled their nerves by winning a match. In previous years the only time a seed would play someone who has already won a match is when they face the winner of a preliminary match but those matches are much shorter and generally feature players of a lower calibre - this year the seeds are facing players of a higher quality who have already won a match. Obviously it's not the only reason, Wright and RVB were very poor on their finishing, but I think the organisers will look at it and make some changes next year.