Shoulder injury forces Dirk van Duijvenbode to withdraw from Players Championship 29 and 30

Dirk van Duijvenbode has withdrawn from the final two Players Championship tournaments of the season. These will take place November 1 and 2 in Barnsley.

The 31-year-old Dutchman has been struggling with a shoulder injury for several weeks. This also previously resulted in a cancellation for Players Championship 25 through 28, causing 'Aubergenius' to lose his leading position on the Players Championship Order of Merit.

Van Duijvenbode explained to De Telegraaf the complaints of his injury. ''It's down to the steering wheel in my shoulder blade. If my arm went forward, my shoulder went backward. Three weeks ago, I couldn't make a throw from 90 degrees to extending my arm. I couldn't even raise my arm, then everything blocked very quickly. Now I can throw that thing back up in one stroke. Only the muscle that compensated for everything that wasn't right in the shoulder blade, I now feel a kind of knife wound in it with every dart I throw,'' Van Duijvenbode says.

Later in November, he is scheduled to participate in the Grand Slam of Darts and Players Championship Finals, the last two tournaments prior to the World Darts Championship in December.

''Those Players Championship Finals before the World Championship, I just have to be fit for that. All my life goes aside. My work, my child -of course I just take good care of him- , really everything goes aside to solve this as soon as possible,'' Van Duijvenbode assured.