The defending European Champion has lost in the first round the last four years ❓2023 … Pietreczko🇩🇪 🏆2022 R. Smith🏴 ❌2022 5-6 Wade🏴 🏆2021 Cross🏴 ❌2021 3-6 Hempel🇩🇪 🏆2020 Wright🏴 ❌2020 3-6 Kleermaker🇳🇱 🏆2019 Cross🏴 ❌2019 0-6 Clayton🏴 🏆2018 Wade🏴
Recent curse threatens defending champion Ross Smith at European Championship
PDCTuesday, 24 October 2023 at 19:00
Ross Smith is the defending champion at the European Championship this week. 'Smudger' managed to take the title in surprising fashion last year in Dortmund by defeating Michael Smith in the final.
Smith showed good form last weekend ahead of his hunt for title prolongation by winning the 28th Players Championship tournament of the season in Barnsley.
For the Englishman, the 2023 European Championship begins on Friday night with a first-round match against Ricardo Pietreczko. In doing so, Smith hopes to rid himself of a curse that defending champions at the European Championship have faced in recent years.
Indeed, the four previous winners of the European Championship were invariably eliminated in the first round of the subsequent edition. James Wade was the best in 2018, but lost in the first round to Jonny Clayton in 2019.
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Rob Cross took the title in 2019, but could draw a line in 2020 right away after a defeat against Martijn Kleermaker. The 2020 edition was won by Peter Wright, who then lost to Florian Hempel in 2021. Cross again captured the title at the European Darts Championship in 2021, but then went down against Wade in the first round in 2022.
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