Van Gerwen on Noppert incident at World Grand Prix: "At the time it really hurt, he came to me and apologised twice"

Michael van Gerwen opened up his European Championship campaign on Friday night by breezing past Boris Krcmar.

Van Gerwen was threatening the whitewash at times with some incredible darts but had to settle for a 6-2 success and he was pleased post match as well as being full of praise for the Croatian.

"In the beginning I thought I played really well, when I was under pressure I made the right shots at the right moments. I think I was controlling the game overall, I can't complain much. My focus was there, my confidence was there," said

"He was a bit unlucky early in the game with the 160 and everything. He's a lovely guy, he's such a big guy but he's such a nice man. Unfortunately I had to swipe him away, that's one done and onto the next one."

"From here, I think I can do some more damage in this tournament. I've been saying this for a few weeks, my game is starting to get somewhere. We not showing the 90 averages anymore."

He also gave an update on the Danny Noppert cheating incident from the World Grand Prix and said he has apologised so it is basically case closed.

"Of course at the time it really hurt. He did call me a cheat because he did it backstage. I asked him backstage but fair play to him, he came to me today and he apologised twice and he said I shouldn't have dealt with it in that way. That's how you deal with things."