Michael van Gerwen in late withdrawal from Players Championship 8

Michael van Gerwen will not start Tuesday's eighth Players Championship tournament of the season. 'Mighty Mike' was eliminated early yesterday at Players Championship 7 and then decided to go home.

Van Gerwen suffered a first-round defeat at the hands of German prospect Niko Springer on Monday afternoon in Hildesheim. In the first leg, Van Gerwen missed seven darts on the outer ring, before being broken by a 23-darter from Springer. After that, however, the Dutchman continued to trail and also missed three chances in the ninth leg to come back to 4-5, before Springer then took the win 6-3 by throwing out 86.

So far this season, Van Gerwen earned only 4,500 pounds at the Players Championship tournaments. Of the eight tournaments, he has now skipped four, while the three-time world champion was eliminated in the first round at two tournaments and once in the second round. At Players Championship 5, Van Gerwen did manage to reach the quarterfinals. Van Gerwen really does not have much extra rest time due to his cancellation for Players Championship 8, as he is expected in Cardiff on Wednesday for the remainder of the Premier League Darts. In the Welsh capital, he will take on Luke Humphries.

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