The Dutchman takes on Boris Krcmar in the first round, with the winner taking on Vincent van der Voort in round two. Krcmar is mainly known from his performances in soft-tip, but proved his skills in steel-tip as well.
Last weekend the Croatian even produced a stunning 108 average during the Players Championship Finals. However he lost that match after a leg-decider to Michael Smith. So Meulenkamp is warned and he will not underestimate his opponent.
''He's one of the Tour Card holders so we know him for a while now. He played this year on the tour, just like me. He's not a nobody'', he told Dutch broadcaster RTL 7.
Meulenkamp will prepare himself physically and mentally ready for the World Championship. He also gets help from other players who are going to Alexandra Palace.
''At this time I'm going to the gym in the morning very often. After that I meet with a small group darts players, with the likes of Jeffrey de Zwaan, Martijn Kleermaker, Derk Telnekes and Niels Zonneveld. Also Kim (Huybrechts) will come to the Netherlands. Then we just start preparing for the big work.''
“We have a location where we can go, with enough distance. It is very nice that we can make use of it, so that we can prepare optimally'', Meulenkamp said.
I stumbled into the world of darts quite by accident back in 2013. For a Journalism School assignment, I had to produce a live sports report and as it happened, the European Tour event in Veldhoven was the only available option. That weekend, I caught the darts bug. The post-match interviews especially appealed to me, as darts players tend to be much more open and approachable than what you usually see with footballers on television.
After a few detours, I joined Dartsnieuws.com in 2017 as editor-in-chief. I don’t have much competitive experience myself, although I once entered a PDC Development Tour weekend just to experience what it’s like from a player’s perspective. I even managed to win a leg against a Tour Card holder and, quite by accident, earned £50 in prize money.
In 2022, I was also involved in the founding of the TOTO Dart Kings, a commercial darts team, where I worked as media manager for three years. Unfortunately, due to new legislation in the Netherlands, that project came to an end in 2025.
Through my work in darts, I’ve been fortunate to travel to some incredible events, from Premier League nights at Ahoy Rotterdam, to several World Championships, and even the US Darts Masters at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Beyond darts, I’m a passionate sports fan in general. You can always wake me up for a game of tennis or padel, and I love following football, tennis, padel, cycling, Formula 1, and ice skating.
𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗥𝗔𝗪
Some absolutely ridiculous ties to look forward to when the 2020/21 @WilliamHill World Darts Championship gets underway on Dec 15.
Here's the Draw Bracket for this year's tournament...