Martin Schindler rues missed chances after World Championship defeat: "The atmosphere was really overwhelming"

Martin Schindler's first match at the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship ended in a rude awakening. Before the start of the World Darts Championship, all the German's hopes were pinned on The Wall, but they were quickly dashed when it became clear that Schindler would be eliminated from the tournament due to numerous double faults. The German was beaten 3-0 by Callan Rydz.

Schindler's scoring was really impressive and he also managed to throw eight perfect darts, but again both the 9-darter and later the leg win failed due to numerous missed darts at the doubles.

"The atmosphere was really overwhelming," explained Schindler in the subsequent press conference. "It was extremely loud the whole time, every second. But it doesn't help if you stand there and don't hit your doubles. It could also be - it's the World Championships - that the pressure was completely different this time, higher."

"The pressure was completely different overall, but I didn't feel like I had to be under more pressure or that I owed anyone anything or anything else. I just went for it, prepared well, trained a lot, did a lot. Basically, I mainly practiced the doubles and then you get up there and it's a disaster and you don't always know exactly why, why, why. Maybe there was pressure, but it didn't feel like that to me."

Schindler explained that the disappointment is definitely there, but he will not give up and hopes to be able to perform better again in the future. "I was actually playing quite well at the last World Championships and now, after a relatively good year, I somehow wasn't there on stage at all," he reflected on the match.

"For me, this was just one game of many. That's why I'm not burying my head in the sand and saying 'it's over now' or anything like that, but I feel I'm in a position to play even better and achieve even greater things. I just have to get it on the board. If I don't do that, then all the saying and doing is for nothing. I think there's a whole lot more I can achieve.

The Wall also received vociferous support from the fans at the Ally Pally, which Schindler was not unaware of. However, he not only received many messages at the venue, but also on social media. For this reason, he also addressed this point and thanked the fans for their support. "All in all, I have to say I think it's great and I think it's fantastic how well the sport of darts is received in Germany. You have to say, of course, that in Germany we don't have the major winner, the world champion or anything like that. We have good guys, we have strong guys who are able to win smaller tournaments, but despite that, the support in Germany is huge," he summarized. "Here at the Ally Pally in England, in London, the support is also really huge. Many, many fans have also shouted out to me. I'm really grateful for that, thank you very, very much to the fans. I really, really appreciate it."

With Florian Hempel and Ricardo Pieterczko, Germany has two more irons in the fire so far at the World Darts Championship 2025. The young man from Cologne has his second round match on Monday in the evening session, where he will face Daryl Gurney. Pikachu will also be in action on Monday evening. He opens the evening session with a match against Gian van Veen.