EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW | Brian Raman heading to Lakeside with clear goal: "Winning! Otherwise you shouldn't even go there"

The WDF World Championship gets underway at the iconic Lakeside Country Club on Friday. Ahead of the tournament, Dartsnews.com has sat down with Brian Raman to gauge his ambitions. Raman was one of the last players to qualify for the Worlds, but that certainly doesn't make him any less ambitious.

Raman is one of three Belgians who managed to qualify for the men's tournament. The 28-year-old will take on Corné Groeneveld on Friday night in the opening match of the World Championship. When asked about his expectations, Raman is immediately very clear. "Winning! Otherwise you shouldn't even go there. But above all I want to enjoy it and get a good level, that's the most important thing."

"I don't actually know Groeneveld, I've never played against him. In a possible second round I will meet Martyn Turner. The sixteenth seed and - in quotation marks - maybe one of the easier seeds, but recently at the Modus Super Series he also threw over 90 average, so it won't be easy anyway. But I prepare for my own game and don't really look at others."

'The Riddler' can already count on the necessary support at the WDF World Championship. "I am leaving for Frimley Green today after work with my brother and one of his best mates and on Friday some other friends are coming to watch. By the way, I normally stay in England for at least two weeks, because after the World Championship I still participate in the ADC Global Championship. Only if I lose in the first or second round I might return home for a while."

For Raman, it will be his third participation in the WDF World Championship. After losing in the preliminary round in 2020, in his most recent participation in 2022, he started the tournament as the top seed and eventually reached the quarterfinals, where he lost 4-2 to Richard Veenstra. "I certainly don't look at this tournament any differently than I did then, although the outside world probably will. I don't think anyone expects me to get far this year, besides I was only one of the last players to qualify for the WDF World Championship. That also ensures that there is much less pressure on me and I can throw more freely."

Raman played a lot of tournaments of the WDF Tour, was already qualified for the World Championship of that association, but still opted to participate in the qualification tournament for the PDC World Championship a week and a half ago. "Although that was not really with the intention of qualifying for the World Championship, rather to get some match rhythm as a last good preparation for Lakeside," he says. "I had told my girlfriend beforehand that the ideal scenario would be that I lost the qualification match, it would mean I had a great workout and could still play Lakeside (laughs). In the end I lost 6-5 to Maikel Verberk already in the opening round, but I got almost 93 average and with that would have won many other matches in the qualifying tournament. So despite that defeat I did gain some confidence."

Raman had a PDC Tour Card in 2022 and 2023, but partly due to shoulder problems, he was unable to take full advantage of his opportunities. "It's better in the meantime, but still not 100 percent. There are days when it doesn't bother me at all and hopefully it will be the same at Lakeside. However, I'm a heavy sleeper and if I fall asleep in the wrong position it bothers me a lot the day after. I don't do any special exercises for it, but make sure I don't lift heavy things or do any weird movements."

The WDF WC will be broadcast worldwide on YouTube, whilst only in Great Britain will the final two days of the tournament be televised. Last year Lakeside was also broadcast from the quarter-finals on the Belgian pay channel Play Sports. "From what I have heard, this year it will not be broadcast at all in Belgium. That's quite a shame," Raman said. "Everyone can obviously follow it on YouTube, but it's still more fun when it's also on television."

Besides Raman, two more Belgians will be in action in the men's tournament with François Schweyen and Sybren Gijbels. "It's their debut for both of them and I especially hope they will enjoy it. Both François and Sybren have the level to get far, but it depends on how they will handle the circumstances. Sybren played the quarter-finals at the Dutch Open on a big stage at the beginning of this year and had some nerves. François has already qualified a couple of times for a European Tour tournament and has also gained some stage experience there. I do see opportunities for both Belgians."

"We will sit with the three Belgians there though. François and I are playing the first night and I do think we will throw in together. Potentially we can meet in the third round and then we will have to see, I myself am someone who doesn't worry about that, but some players prefer not to throw in together then if they have to play against each other."

It looks to be a fairly open World Championship, but Raman still sees one clear top favourite. "Then I immediately think of Jimmy van Schie. He won several ranking tournaments this year and also only narrowly missed out on qualification for the PDC World Championship. For me, Jimmy is the player to look out for and that's how less people look at me," laughed Raman.

Besides playing darts himself, Raman has also been active for some time as a co-commentator on darts broadcasts on VTM 2. "It has caused me to fall back in love with darts, something I had somewhat lost during my two years at the PDC," he said.

It also immediately makes us ask about his schedule related to Q-School. "I still don't know, I haven't made a decision yet. It's also independent of my performance at the WDF World Championship. I mainly have to get it settled with my work and possibly find a sponsor who is willing to pay for the days I can't work. There are so many things involved, I am also a father of two children, the bills have to be paid every month and there has to be bread on the table."

Raman indicated earlier that he was not particularly happy during his two years at the PDC. "The mental aspect is indeed the most important thing to perform. I think it is good that the players' union of the PDC has invested in mental coaching. For example, I heard from Jules van Dongen that you can appeal to a sports psychologist, but that the first session is free and afterwards you have to pay for everything yourself. It's good that the possibility is there, but financially it can still all be arranged better."

In recent years, Raman has been and continues to be coaching other darters himself. "I coach a number of youth players and also Xanti Van den Bergh (brother of Dimitri). Also players like Jarno Bottenberg, Bram van Dijk and Daan Bastiaansen. I would actually like to put more time into it, but those are perhaps plans for the future when things are quieter."

Raman is therefore well placed to assess the darts hype in Belgium and who the biggest talents are for the future. "The darts hype continues and because more and more people are playing darts you also have a much bigger pond to fish from. Lex Paeshuyse is the biggest talent, he qualified for this year's WDF World Junior Championship and yesterday he also managed to qualify for the final of the Junior Darts Corporation World Championship (to be played during the World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace). But also in the girls, Belgium is represented at Lakeside this year with Jentl Fransen."

Closing we do with the question of whether Belgium will get another world champion at the WDF World Championship after Andy Baetens last year? "I told Andy early this year that he would get a Tour Card and I would succeed him as world champion. That first prediction has already come true, hopefully within a week and a half also the second one."