Lewis states replacements at World Grand Prix 'shouldn't receive money on their rankings'
PDCFriday, 09 October 2020 at 11:05
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Just before the start of the World Grand Prix, Adrian Lewis and Stephen Bunting were tested positive for the Coronavirus. After this positive test, they had to leave the players' hotel immediately and were excluded from the tournament.
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Simon Whitlock and Jeffrey de Zwaan were called up as replacements. They were the highest placed players in the world rankings who had not qualified for the World Grand Prix. De Zwaan took advantage of this opportunity by beating Jamie Hughes in the first round. Whitlock also won. The Australian defeated Chris Dobey, who was not satisfied with the circumstances.
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''Total disaster from start to finish. Preparation was shot to bits and was an absolute shambles. Nothing against Simon, the best man won by far, but personally for me I don't see how the two players were able to step in. Win or lose, I would have still said the same'', Dobey stated in a deleted tweet.
The Bedlington ace came back on this one day later. ''Touching on from my last post. I’ve nothing against Simon or Jeffrey at all, but I just feel for both Adie and Stephen. They definitely earned there right to be here, so should get the qualifying money at least. No sour grapes at all win or lose I’d have said the exact same'', Dobey added.
Lewis replied to that message. ''You are right. If Simon and Jeffrey deserved to be there they would of been there on merit. They shouldn't receive money on there rankings, at the end of the day we are going through a pandemic'', the two-time world champion said on Twitter.
I stumbled into the world of darts quite by accident back in 2013. For a Journalism School assignment, I had to produce a live sports report and as it happened, the European Tour event in Veldhoven was the only available option. That weekend, I caught the darts bug. The post-match interviews especially appealed to me, as darts players tend to be much more open and approachable than what you usually see with footballers on television.
After a few detours, I joined Dartsnieuws.com in 2017 as editor-in-chief. I don’t have much competitive experience myself, although I once entered a PDC Development Tour weekend just to experience what it’s like from a player’s perspective. I even managed to win a leg against a Tour Card holder and, quite by accident, earned £50 in prize money.
In 2022, I was also involved in the founding of the TOTO Dart Kings, a commercial darts team, where I worked as media manager for three years. Unfortunately, due to new legislation in the Netherlands, that project came to an end in 2025.
Through my work in darts, I’ve been fortunate to travel to some incredible events, from Premier League nights at Ahoy Rotterdam, to several World Championships, and even the US Darts Masters at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Beyond darts, I’m a passionate sports fan in general. You can always wake me up for a game of tennis or padel, and I love following football, tennis, padel, cycling, Formula 1, and ice skating.
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