Joe Cullen suffered a painful defeat in the first round of the 2024 Czech Darts Open in Prague on Friday afternoon. 'The Rockstar' went down 6-4 against one of the home nation qualifiers Pavel Drtil.
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The 35-year-old Englishman has already had a disappointing year in 2024, but recently showed signs of a revival at the World Grand Prix with a strong run to the quarterfinal stage. Cullen was unable to continue this upward trend in Prague this weekend however, as he recorded an average of only 82.49 in defeat to Drtil.
A performance for which the former Masters champion was quite embarrassed, as he revealed on his official social media accounts after the event. ''I wanna apologise to all my fans for that performance today,'' he began his story. "It was not acceptable!"
''Everybody loses games but there’s a manner in which to do so. I can't remember the last time I felt so embarrassed after a game, congrats to Pavel who produced a memorable moment for himself,'' Cullen concluded.
This defeat has no consequences for Cullen in terms of qualification for the European Championship, which he was already sure of. 'The Rockstar' reached the final at the Austrian Darts Open earlier this season, which already put him firmly in the top-32 of the Euro Tour Order of Merit.
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He contributes to DartsNews.com, where he covers professional darts through news, match reports, analysis, and live coverage across the PDC calendar and major tournaments.
A key part of his work is on-site reporting from leading events. Kieran has covered the PDC World Darts Championship in person, reporting daily from the venue and providing first-hand insight from the tournament. During his coverage, he has conducted interviews with leading players including Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, and Gerwyn Price.
He is also one of the leading voices of the English-language Dartsnews Podcast, contributing regular analysis and discussion on developments across the professional darts circuit.
In his reporting, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles when new, verified information becomes available.
𝗗𝗥𝗧𝗜𝗟 𝗗𝗨𝗠𝗣𝗦 𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗖𝗨𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗡 🇨🇿
Host nation qualifier Pavel Drtil pulls off a huge upset to defeat former Masters champion Joe Cullen 6-4 in Round One!
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