Anger boils over for Belgium pair after missing final spot: ''This is a bigger disappointment than last year''

The Belgians surprisingly had to drop out of the semifinals of the World Cup of Darts on Sunday night. Almost twenty-four hours after the sensational 8-2 victory over the Netherlands, they lost 8-3 to Austria.

Dimitri van den Bergh and Kim Huybrechts had an excellent start to the match against Mensur Suljovic and Rowby-John Rodriguez. The Belgians led 3-1, but a missed chance at 4-1 and as many as nine missed chances for a 4-3 lead killed Van den Bergh and De Decker.

Nothing seemed to fall for the Belgian duo anymore and Austria picked up seven legs in a row to advance to the final match at the expense of the Belgians. ''There was more to it,'' Huybrechts told Het Nieuwsblad in a first reaction. ''We got into the lead and then they threw two fantastic legs. Then came the leg that cracked us, I think. After the break we didn't get back into it. Against Italy I already had a harder time and I didn't get through. Dimitri couldn't keep doing it alone, but I couldn't help him at the pivotal moments."

The defeat seemed to have hit Van den Bergh harder. "It just wasn't good enough anymore. We didn't find any more triples, whereas I go to the board with the idea of hitting at least one. And, no bulls***, I did that this tournament and even better. But it all didn't go as smoothly. I was hoping Kim would pick me up, but it didn't work out with him either. No final again... This is a big disappointment for a while. I speak for both of us that this is a huge disappointment, but we can't change anything anymore. We are just ten times better than what we showed. All credit to Austria, but we wanted it the other way around. I'm boiling inside at the moment,'' stated the reigning UK Open champion.

So again no final spot for the Belgium, which in the past has reached the semifinals eight times at the World Cup of Darts but only once got past the last four. ''Whether there is a curse on us? Don't say that. I'm not into that and there isn't one,'' Van den Bergh said. ''Otherwise we wouldn't have played a final in the past and make a semifinal of the World Cup, is that bad? No, that's a fantastic achievement. But the rotten thing is that we don't make that final."