"It was a super performance by England" - Austrians resign themselves to supremacy of new world champions

Austria came up just short in their quest to win the 2024 World Cup of Darts on Sunday night in Frankfurt, Germany on Sunday night. Mensur Suljovic and Rowby-John Rodriguez went down 10-6 in the final against the ultra talented English duo of Luke Humphries and Michael Smith.

The Austrians fell behind right away. Rodriguez had three darts on the double, but did not capitalize on these chances. Humphries then hit double 10 for the break and Humphries did the same in the second leg to make it 2-0. In the seventh leg, Austria finally got back into the play, but Suljovic missed two chances at the double. With Smith then also missing two, Rodriguez signed for the Austrian leg via double 10. Austria then brought the tension back somewhat by halving the deficit to 6-4 but there was no magical comeback on the cards as the English duo ran out an eventually quite comfortable 10-6 winners to take the title.

So for Austria, which also lost the final once in 2021 (against Scotland), the wait for a first triumph at the World Cup of Darts goes on a little longer. “We lost to the world number one and the world number three,” reflected Suljovic, one of four players who has been there at every edition of the World Cup of Darts, in his post-match interview. “Luke and Michael played brilliantly. 140, 180s, big finishes. Absolute respect. It was a super performance from England.”

Rodriguez could only agree with his matchmate. "We are disappointed to lose in the final, but we are happy with the way we played this weekend," assesses the former World Youth Championship runner up in his own post-match interview afterwards. “If somebody had told us before this weekend we would have made the final, we would have signed for that, 100%.”