Dirk van Duijvenbode managed to reach the third round of the European Darts Open on Saturday night with a sensational 6-2 victory over Gerwyn Price. With this victory over 'The Iceman' Van Duijvenbode showed again that he is on the way up after months of struggling with a persistent shoulder injury.
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The darter from 's-Gravenzande thus took a nice revenge on Price. The Welshman had beaten Van Duijvenbode 8-7 in the final of this tournament last year, after the Dutchman had missed several matchdarts.
Price now managed to win two of the first three legs, but with an 11-darter and a 15-darter Van Duijvenbode took over the lead. With a 17-darter and an 80 finish 'Aubergenius' then extended his lead to 5-2. Van Duijvenbode then finished the job with a 16-dart leg. The two-time major finalist recorded an average of 102.58 and a 67 checkout percentage.
A happy Van Duijvenbode then faced mastercaller Philip Brzezinski for a review of his match. "My confidence is not there yet, but I feel like I’m getting back to where I used to be," Van Duijvenbode said.
During training, the Dutchman already noticed that he was in good shape. ''I had a nine-darter in practice yesterday (Friday, ed), today (Saturday, ed.) I hit two in 30 minutes in practice. I’ve never done that in my life and now I’ve hit three in 24 hours!''
On Sunday afternoon, Van Duijvenbode will take on Martin Schindler in the third round. ''I feel determined to show people that Dirk is not done. I feel like I’m getting closer, but I’m not done, I promise you!''
The third round of the European Darts Open will take place on Sunday afternoon, before the tournament concludes with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final in a bumper evening session at the Ostermann-Arena.
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.
Dirk van Duijvenbode powered past reigning champion Gerwyn Price to reach the last 16 of the NEObet European Darts Open on Saturday, as Raymond van Barneveld dumped out Luke Humphries in Leverkusen.
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