Van der Voort to temporarily quit darts in 2025: ''After this year I'll take a gap year''

Wednesday, 09 October 2024 at 15:00

Vincent van der Voort will not be seen on the PDC circuit in 2025. 'The Dutch Destroyer' has decided to stop playing darts at least temporarily. The coming year should tell if he wants to continue his career in the future.

Van der Voort is one of the best-known Dutch darters of this century. Despite many injuries, the dart player from Purmerend in the Netherlands, has been present at 22 consecutive World Championships since 2002. At the 2005, 2011 and 2015 World Championships, Van der Voort reached the quarterfinals. More recently, however, Van der Voort has dropped to 63rd place on the PDC Order of Merit. He will lose his PDC Tour Card if Van der Voort is no longer among the global top-64 in January. But regardless of whether Van der Voort manages to stay in the top-64, he has announced a long break.

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"Whatever happens: after this year I'm taking a gap year," the former UK Open finalist said in conversation with AD.nl. "I'm first going to find out if I still want to do this. I suffer a lot from gout and therefore often can't stand on my foot. Training is not in the cards anyway."

"If you keep dabbling like that with sometimes so much pain in my right foot, it doesn't get anywhere," Van der Voort continued. The 48-year-old Dutchman also indicated he wanted to mentally unwind after some private events. Van der Voort had previously indicated that someone within his family had fallen ill.

Van der Voort stressed that it is not yet a final farewell as a professional dart player, although he considers it unlikely that he will return in 2026. Should he fail to find the motivation again, Van der Voort will quit for good. "I honestly don't see it happening, but I don't want to say I'll quit now only to find out after six months that I'm missing out. For the same money, I play tournaments and really get the drive to compete again."

Although Van der Voort never managed to win a major, he has a decent record as a professional. In his early years as a darter, Van der Voort became European and World champion a number of times in international team tournaments within the WDF system. He also won the Denmark Open in 2002 and 2006. In 2007, Van der Voort made the move to the PDC, where he reached the final of the UK Open in the same year. That final 'Fast Vinnie' lost to compatriot Raymond van Barneveld. Van der Voort did manage to win four floor tournaments and a Euro Tour at the PDC.

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Tim Hartman

@TimHartman09

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Nieuws: Vincent van der Voort legt in 2025 voorlopig de dartpijlen neer: 'Wat er ook gebeurt: na dit jaar neem ik een tussenjaar. Ik ga uitzoeken of ik dit nog wel wil' 👇 ad.nl/darts/vincent-…