Kim Huybrechts just missed out on qualifying for the World Matchplay with his promising start to the year being dispelled somewhat after the Coronavirus lockdown.

Speaking exclusively to DartsNews, Huybrechts admitted that Coronavirus came at the wrong time for him after getting into the swing of things again which included a semi-final in the last Players Championship before lockdown.

“Lockdown indeed came at a particularly bad time, I was in good shape and mentally I was stronger again, Euro Tours were also coming. But unfortunately Coronavirus decided otherwise. ”

“As for everyone, that lockdown was a fairly boring period,” Huybrechts continued. “I practised a lot in the beginning. Towards the end, the motivation was a little less because you are in the same routine with no tournament as a goal. ”

At the PDC Summer Series , the first tournaments back after the lockdown, 'The Hurricane' got no further than the last 64. “I missed a lot of doubles and was punished for this every time. As a result, I lost my place at the World Matchplay. ”

New darts incoming

After leaving Unicorn in the end to a long term partnership, Huybrechts is now with Bulls NL and said he is experimenting with new darts.

“I recently signed with a new darts manufacturer, namely Bulls Nederland, they are designing my darts. Currently I play with Danny Noppert darts, but soon my own darts will be available on the market. ”

Earlier this year, the 34-year-old Belgian expressed the wish to rise again to the top-20 in the world rankings but these hopes could be dashed at least for the time being. “That is currently still quite unclear because there is a flare-up of the pandemic. So it remains to be seen which tournaments will actually take place and which tournaments will disappear from the calendar. ”

Thoughts on Van den Bergh's World Matchplay win

Dimitri van den Bergh won his first major at the World Matchplay recently and his World Cup of Darts teammate admits he was even in shock at his victory.

“Of course I had seen this in Dimitri, but I am somewhat surprised that this happened so quickly. However, the way he dominated the tournament proves how talented this young man is. Mentally he is very strong and an example for many players. Whether it gives me extra motivation? Whether Dimitri or anyone else who wins the tournament, I am always highly motivated to prove myself and win tournaments. ”

Response from Belgian media

In terms of Belgian media, he hopes that Van den Bergh's win can open new doors in terms of how Belgian Darts is represented. “Let's hope that the sport of darts finally gets the attention it deserves. But in the past, when I myself performed well, there was also a small flurry about darts in the media, unfortunately this attention does not last long in Belgium. ”