Van den Bergh after victory against Van Barneveld: "This was the most difficult draw imaginable"

After taking an impressive 6-3 victory over Raymond van Barneveld in the first round of the Dutch Darts Championship, Dimitri Van den Bergh was quick to praise his legendary opponent.

Van den Bergh, averaging 105.62 in victory had this to say in a post-match interview with Darts Actueel. "I've known Raymond for a long time, he used to even play against my father. I knew it would be a difficult match, especially here in Leeuwarden with the Dutch public fully behind him. I am therefore very satisfied with this victory."

Van den Bergh was of course performing in the Premier League in Leeds on Thursday giving him little time to prepare. "Last night I went to sleep at midnight and the alarm went off again at 4.30 am. Fortunately I was able to catch up on some sleep here in my hotel room."

Next week the European Tour will land in Wieze for the Belgian Darts Open. "I'm really looking forward to that. Although it will be a short night again, there will be the Premier League again on Thursday."