"First person to come up to me to offer his sympathy": Ricky Evans aims to curb 'unnecessary hate' aimed at Raymond van Barneveld after emotional win

Ricky Evans had an emotional win last night which some called one of the most heroic on the European Tour ever after the sad passing of his sister Elisha earlier this month. He was in tears as he hit the winning double but Raymond van Barneveld somewhat got caught up.

Van Barneveld shook Evans hand and walked off the oche but he was berated on social media for appearing not to show compassion towards what the Kettering thrower is going through.

But Evans was quick to release a statement this morning after X in particular was littered with tweets surrounding Van Barneveld's reaction and that he shouldn't be getting 'unnecessary hate'.

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Evans said that he loves and respects the five-time World Champion and also that in recent weeks, he was the first to come up to him to offer compassion and support after the passing. He said that both wanted to win so got caught up in that and that there is no bad blood between the pair of them at all.

Evans returns later this evening to face Dave Chisnall in a battle of two of the fastest throwers on the planet after a win that will mean a lot for a myriad of different reasons on Friday.

"I'm seeing Raymond get a lot of unnecessary hate on social media, and I just wanted to address this," wrote Evans on Facebook

"Raymond was the first person to come up to me in Leicester at the recent Pro Tour events to offer his sympathy for my recent bad news, and I love and respect him massively.

"We have spoken this morning, and he wished me well for the rest of the tournament. There is no bad blood or issue at all between us, we both just wanted to win last night."

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