Van Duijvenbode not surprised by performances of Noppert: 'His level will increase even more if they keep playing on this dartboard'

Danny Noppert can follow in the footsteps of Dirk van Duijvenbode on Friday night, who stunned the darts world last year by reaching the final at the World Grand Prix.

After victories over Michael van Gerwen, Vincent van der Voort and Ian White, Noppert is in the last four. 'The Freeze' will play Jonny Clayton on Friday for a spot in the final. Van Duijvenbode is not surprised by Noppert's class performances.

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''Danny is going to do crazy things this year, I told my colleague this week,'' he told Sportnieuws.nl. Van Duijvenbode made this prediction because as of last week, new dartboards are being played on during the PDC major tournaments.

"Danny always had problems on stage with his darts hanging down. Danny has darts with a long point, so the dart hangs in a hard board and he can't throw the other arrow against it. So he had to refocus every single arrow."

"You see at this tournament - there are new boards, from Unicorn, which are a little softer - Danny's arrows don't hang. So the game he plays on the floor, he can play here too. Now just watch: when those darts are normal, he's doing really well. I'm pretty sure his level on stage will go up if this board stays."