Stephen Bunting wins Promi-Darts World Championship exhibition tournament also including Littler, Humphries and Van Gerwen
PDC
Luke Littler had barely been crowned the youngest world champion in PDC history on Friday night when the darts were already flying Sunday at the Maritim Hotel in Dusseldorf. As part of the 7th Promi-Darts World Championship, selected PDC stars played alongside German celebrities to crown a popular champion.
The Promi-Darts World Championship has been organized and broadcast by TV channel ProSieben since 2017. Six selected top PDC players are invited to the exhibition tournament and each form a team with a celebrity. The six teams of two players will initially be divided into two groups.
The two group winners will qualify directly for the semifinals, while the second and third-placed teams will face each other in an intermediate round and compete for a place in the final four. The tournament is largely played in a best-of-3-legs format before the format is expanded to best-of-5-legs in the final. While the PDC stars will play in a double-out mode as usual, the celebrities can also go out with a treble and singles.
In 2025, the Promi-Darts World Championship once again had a high-caliber field of participants. In Group A, three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen was on stage with teammate and comedian Simon Gosejohann. They met, among others, Peter "Snakebite" Wright, who took part in the tournament together with soccer commentator Wolff-Christoph Fuss. Also invited was German number one Martin Schindler, who was in the hunt for the title with TV star Evelyn Burdecki.
In Group B, world number one Luke Humphries and German singer Vanessa Mai were cheered by fans in Düsseldorf. Stephen Bunting received as frenzied a reception Sunday night as he did in 'Ally Pally' in London. He was joined on the oche by Patrick Owomoyela, who celebrated two German championships and a DFB Cup victory with Borussia Dortmund. Last but not least, defending champion Ricardo Pietreczko returned to Düsseldorf to repeat his triumph from last year along with actor Axel Stein.
In the group stage, van Gerwen and Gosejohann got off to the best possible start and qualified directly for the semifinals with victories over the Wright/Fuss (2-1) and Schindler/Burdecki (2-0) duos. Then Schindler and Burdecki also made the German fans cheer when they defeated Peter Wright and Wolff-Christoph Fuss 2-0. Schindler also caused a stir with his darts: As he announced in an interview with our editors, the 28-year-old played for the first time with darts from his new equipment supplier BULL'S.
Humphries
With an unchanged line-up and his usual scoring ability, Luke Humphries gave his doubles partner Vanessa Mai, who impressed with a surprisingly clean throwing technique and threw several finishes, the first group win with a 2-1 victory over Pietreczko/Stein. 'Pikachu' and Stein fought back, however, and shortly thereafter defeated the duo of Bunting and Owomoyela 2-0, who then also lost 1-2 to Humphries and Mai.
In the intermediate round, however, Bunting and Owomoyela gained full steam, as the 156-time Bundesliga player in particular became more and more confident. The two footballers defeated Schindler and Burdecki 2-0 and advanced to the last four. Pietreczko and Stein also advanced to the semifinals, beating Wright and Fuss 2-1.
Treasured celebrities
In the semifinals, three-time Promi-Darts World Championship champion Michael van Gerwen and comedian Simon Gosejohann were defeated 1-2 by Bunting and Owomoyela. At the end of the match, former Bundesliga professional Owomoyela provided one of the highlights of the evening when he sent Team van Gerwen home ice cold with the first matchdart on tops. "It's not Bunting who will be nominated for the Premier League Darts tomorrow, it's this guy," joked 'Mighty Mike' in the post-match interview. In the second semifinal, surprisingly, it was again the celebrity who made the decisive difference. Vanessa Mai exploited her second matchdart in the single 12 and celebrated reaching the final arm in arm with Luke Humphries.
Team Bunting and Team Humphries finally faced each other in the final of the seventh Promi-Darts World Championship. Bunting and Owomoyela quickly stormed to a 2-0 lead, but had to concede a 2-2 comeback from Humphries and Mai. In the end, it was former BDO world champion Bunting who pinned 24 on double 12 to take the Promi-Darts World Championship trophy along with Patrick Owomoyela. "When I heard about this invitation a few days ago, I immediately got on the first plane. It is a great honor for me to be able to participate in this kind of tournament. Many thanks to all my German fans," Bunting said in his interview after the final.
Promi Darts World Championship Results
Group A
Gerwen / Gosejohann 2:1 Wright / Fuss
Gerwen / Gosejohann 2:0 Schindler / Burdecki
Schindler / Burdecki 2:0 Wright / Fuss
Group B
Humphries / Mai 2:1 Pietreczko / Stein
Pietreczko / Stein 2:0 Bunting / Owomoyela
Humphries / Mai 2:1 Bunting / Owomoyela
Intermediary round
Bunting / Owomoyela 2:0 Schindler / Burdecki
Pietreczko / Stein 2:1 Wright / Fuss
Semi-FInals
Bunting / Owomoyela 2:1 Gerwen / Gosejohann
Humphries / Mai 2:0 Pietreczko / Stein
Final
Bunting / Owomoyela 3:2 Humphries / Mai
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- No, I wasn't expecting Heta to be in it either having won nothing of any significance. Although he is charismatic and has personality unlike the boring and dull as dishwater Dobey. It is quite pathetic and desperate the way Bunting and Arsepinall pander to the crowd to dance to their walk on music, that has worked though. I would like to see more players involved on a weekly basis similar to the Modus Super Series. A knockout tournament with 16 winners from each week. The Premier league is too boring with the same players. Plus it would eliminate all the whining and booing from unselected players.richieburnettrocks07-01-2025
- Why is World Champion Richie Burnett not highlighted in bold font nor 2 time World Champion Scotty 2 Hotty. COME ON RICHIE BURNETT AND SCOTTY 2 HOTTY Although where the hell has 2 HOTTY been the past year!richieburnettrocks07-01-2025
- It's not tennis, snooker or golf, nobody mentioned Fallon,great as she is. Beau beats her week in,week out. But she isn't interested. If you want to include crowd pleasers,get Les Wallace back!!! He was a world champion,and wore a kilt!!!rick6707-01-2025
- I'm glad wright and van Ben bergh were overlooked. Too much dancing,not enough darting. Bunting is always quality,as for price,he's a crowd pleaser(!!?) too. Aspinall has had his problems,but it's nice to see him back,he's a decent chap. Dobey is a top player,big hitter,so I won't complain. Cross will finish bottom,much as I like him,he seems to be off lately. I'm glad they didn't pick a Belgian just for the audience. But I don't agree with the tournament or format,so I guess it's immaterial to me. They might as well turn up at a random pub and play for the beers!!!rick6707-01-2025
- I think the PDC's choice is too conservative. EIther or both of Damon Heta and Mike de Dekker should have been in, at the expense of Aspinall and possibly Price. I guess the PDC's reasoning is that they do not want too much turnover from year to year, and so having already rejected Smith and Wright, they have kept Price and Aspinall, but I guess those two are "on probation".
UndartedWaters06-01-2025 - Two from the three of Price, Aspinall and Dobey should have been excluded, De Decker and Edhouse should have been in. I would have offered a place to Beau Greaves though i doubt she would have accepted it and probably not really ready for it confidence wise.Mysstree06-01-2025
- Tennis has a protected ranking system for injuries and Golf has a system that as a Major winner you get invited back of a number of years regardless of your ranking. Barry Hearn gave Stephen Hendry a wildcard for some tournaments though he still had to enter at the qualification stage. Doubt the PDC would give Burnett an exemption as he has never won a PDC Major, same would apply to Steve Beaton. It’s a slippery slope to abandoning a meritocratic system, if the PDC did do so they could then (for example) award a place to Fallon Sherrock even though she has yet to qualify at any level for a tour card.Mysstree06-01-2025
- I'd have said the same about Ady Lewis,but the PDC is indeed a law unto itself,so sorry bud,get your leg kicking and do it for the good lads!!rick6705-01-2025
- COME ON RICHIE BURNETT Surely a World Champion and player with the calibra of Richie should be exempt from ever losing a tour card and having to qualify.richieburnettrocks04-01-2025
- That's true, Richie. Taylor used to call it, "Manley's millions."MrYnyslas197103-01-2025