"Against Humphries I couldn't bring anything in, unfortunately" - Van der Velde proud after strong Grand Slam debut

For Jurjen van der Velde, the Grand Slam of Darts may have ended in the last-16, but the young Frisian could only be satisfied afterwards. The 22-year-old Dutchman impressed in his debut on a big stage and held his own among some of the best players in the world.

Van der Velde qualified for the prestigious tournament as a losing finalist of the Youth World Cup and survived the group stage with Chris Dobey, Damon Heta and Martin Lukeman. Thanks to two wins, he finished second in his pool, good for a spot in the last-16. However, there he met world number one Luke Humphries, who showed no mercy and proved too strong 10-3.

Yet afterwards, Van der Velde was especially proud of his performance. "I did my best here on this stage. For myself I put up quite a good match," he said for Viaplay's camera. "Only against a Luke Humphries I unfortunately couldn't do anything. He was one, two, maybe three sizes too big."

In the opening stages, the young Dutchman barely got any breathing room. Humphries shot out of the starting blocks with an average above 115 and won the first five legs in a row. Van der Velde watched in disbelief, but kept his spirits up. "I was throwing quite nicely then, too," he explained. "I had one chance at a double, but unfortunately I couldn't do anything about it."

As the match progressed, Van der Velde got a little more room to show his own game. His highlight came at a spectacular finish of 164, which had the Wolverhampton crowd go crazy. "I also had absolutely no tension on stage, I enjoyed every moment," he smiled. "I was down 9-2, I thought: then I'm not going to put it away on the bull either. Then I go for it and then I throw it too."

Although the outcome was obvious, the tournament will remain for Van der Velde mostly in a positive sense. The Dutchman proved that he not only has talent, but also the calmness and charisma to compete with the big names. "The last-16 at a major tournament, I'm not going to forget this easily," he concluded.