Dutch Darting Crisis? Only three of 16 players through to third round at PDC World Darts Championship

Sixteen Dutchmen were at the start of this year's World Darts Championship. The expectations were therefore high, but only three Dutchmen managed to qualify for the third round and may therefore still be in action in Alexandra Palace after the Christmas break.

Only Michael van Gerwen, Jermaine Wattimena and Kevin Doets managed to qualify for the third round of the World Darts Championship from the Dutch side. "That did surprise me, yes. I think as a player from the top-32 you owe it to your standing to make it to the third round. There were five of them. In addition, you then hope for some more with some guys in form, but it is a bit the trend of the year: many surprises," Vincent van der Voort said to AD.nl.

The players from the top 32 world rankings who failed to qualify for the third round are Danny Noppert, Dirk van Duijvenbode, Gian van Veen and Raymond van Barneveld.

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Since 2019, the World Darts Championship has been finished with 96 players and only in 2020 did only three Dutchmen (then they were Van Gerwen, Noppert and Jeffrey de Zwaan) also manage to qualify for the third round.

And yet, there are positives for the Dutch as well. With the elimination of several seeds, the draw seems to be open for Van Gerwen towards the semifinals. After Dolan in the third round, a duel with Jeffrey de Graaf or Paolo Nebrida may follow in the fourth round and in the quarterfinals possibly Dimitri Van den Bergh, against whom Van Gerwen has never lost before, awaits.

Jermaine Wattimena is one of three Dutchmen still in contention at the Darts World Cup

"But you really shouldn't think 'what a fine draw', because he's definitely not in that form," warned Vincent van der Voort. "He really has to watch his back match by match. First Dolan and he should certainly not underestimate him, because Michael lost to him at the World Matchplay last year and Dolan won against Gerwyn Price and Anderson at the World Championship last year. Nor is it that Michael was so sovereign in his first match that he can already look past Dolan. Against Scott Williams last year I also thought he would never lose..."

In addition to Van Gerwen, Doets and Wattimena will also be in action after Christmas. Doets, who earlier this World Championship caused a huge shock by eliminating Michael Smith, takes on Krzysztof Ratajski. Wattimena, who sent James Wade home in the previous round, meets Peter Wright.