Dimitri Van den Bergh prevailed in the final of the UK Open on Sunday night. 'The Dreammaker' won 11-10 over Luke Humphries to capture the second major of his career.
Afterwards however, there was a lot of talk about the slow play of the Belgian with many percieving his antics as gamesmanship. Ex-pro turned analyst Chris Mason even went so far as to say it was "overly dramatic and not particularly sporting" as part of ITV's coverage of the final.
Wayne Marde however, doesn't agree. “This has been blown out of proportion," Mardle says in quotes collected by OCHE180. "Sport is about finding a way to win within the rules."
"Player A throws slower than player B, so Player A more or less gets called a cheat. Naive. What’s the fuss. Why should he play at a pace to suit his opponent," Mardle continues. “Apparently he’s the slowest player on the planet. This comes a year after Andrew Gilding won the event…did he ‘cheat’ too?"
Mardle also noted something in particular. "The delay was when he was throwing for the championship. He was nervous and needed time."
"Eric (Bristow) shouts in someone’s face, that’s typical Eric. (Peter) Manley talks to an opponent whilst they’re throwing, that’s funny. Phil (Taylor) walks off before a final leg, fine…it’s Phil. (Simon) Whitlock leaves the stage for a shit, when you’ve got to go. Dimi stands back for 30 seconds, darts implodes," Mardle concluded.
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