Wessel Nijman secured a spot in the third round of the
Hungarian Darts Trophy after causing a big surprise. With a 6-5 victory over
Gerwyn Price, Nijman qualified for the final day of a European Tour tournament for the first time in his career.
At first, it did not look like Nijman was going to beat Price. ‘The Iceman’ started strongly and took a 2-0 lead with a 70 finish and an 11-darter. It then became 3-0 with a 17-darter.
In leg four, however, there were very costly misses from Price. He missed three chances to take a 4-0 lead. Nijman grabbed his first leg with a 61 finish, then threw a 16-darter to reduce the deficit to 2-3.
Price retained the lead by producing a 124 finish and then made it 5-2 with a 14-darter. Nijman did not give up and reduced the deficit to 5-4 with a 13-darter and a fantastic 141 finish.
It then became 5-5 after Nijman also threw out 107. Price started the last leg and had the chance to close out the match as he left 71 after four turns. He received one chance to win, but missed tops. Nijman took advantage and threw 71 to complete his comeback.
Raymond van Barneveld failed to qualify for the last sixteen at the event in Budapest. The five-time world champion suffered a 6-2 defeat against
Ross Smith, who recorded an average of 99.94.