Richard Veenstra takes hat off to Michael van Gerwen: ''He's too good, I respect that''
PDCThursday, 28 December 2023 at 09:30
Richard Veenstra never came close to pulling off a shock against Michael van Gerwen on Wednesday night. 'Flyers' lost hopelessly 4-0 in sets to his compatriot at the World Darts Championship.
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''That's different cake, huh?", laughed Veenstra to AD.nl after he had received darts lessons from Michael van Gerwen. ''You have hope for a moment that you can start well and then he gets shivers, but he didn't suffer from that, haha! Despondent? Yes, everyone who has to chase Michael gets despondent. He's too good, I have a lot of respect for that."
Still, Veenstra can look back on a successful debut at the World Darts Championship. With victories over Ben Robb (3-0) and Kim Huybrechts (3-0) he managed to reach the last 32 in Alexandra Palace.
''You can only learn from this, right? Every time I turned around there was another 140 or 180 in there. I felt really good, but after 1-0 and 2-0 the enjoyment decreases and you want to get a set on the board. All credits to Michael."
The darter from Ossenzijl hopes he lost to the eventual winner and that Van Gerwen gets to lift the cup. ''I think he deserves it again, but it won't be easy."
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Kieran WoodDarts Journalist
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He contributes to DartsNews.com, where he covers professional darts through news, match reports, analysis, and live coverage across the PDC calendar and major tournaments.
A key part of his work is on-site reporting from leading events. Kieran has covered the PDC World Darts Championship in person, reporting daily from the venue and providing first-hand insight from the tournament. During his coverage, he has conducted interviews with leading players including Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, and Gerwyn Price.
He is also one of the leading voices of the English-language Dartsnews Podcast, contributing regular analysis and discussion on developments across the professional darts circuit.
In his reporting, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles when new, verified information becomes available.
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