Tournament Director Nieuwlaat looks back on WDF World Championship with satisfaction: “It went above and beyond expectation”

At the beginning of this month the WDF organised its first World Championship at the Lakeside Country Club. Tournament Director Jacques Nieuwlaat looks back with satisfaction.

The WDF took over the baton from the BDO who organised the World Championships at Lakeside for many years. Nieuwlaat was satisfied with the organisation of the tournament. "It went above and beyond expectations. We did have a power cut on Tuesday night. We had to reschedule one match, but that was about it. The generator of a truck from the TV production company broke down. The back-up generator also broke down," Nieuwlaat told Sportnieuws.nl.

The PDC is often seen as the World Championship for professional players, how should we describe the WDF World Championship? "Basically this is the replacement for the BDO World Championship, so you could say this is the amateur world championship. Players from grassroots sport can qualify for this, so not the professionals."

The WDF does have a clear goal. "First of all, we want to get the World Championship on the calendar every year, which is quite a challenge in itself. Secondly, there is more room for participants from North America, Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Only in Asia, darts couldn't play at all the last two years and therefore no Asians could participate this time. By also giving more chances to players from, say, Eastern and Northern Europe, you will see that these players will have more impact at the World Cup. The number two is a Frenchman, Thibault Tricole, who was very close to the final win. France is a country where there is hardly any darts played. Who knows what that will stir up."

A new World Championship also comes with a new trophy, but it received a lot of criticism on social media, including being compared to an Oreo biscuit and a pizza slice. "I had the trophy designed myself, I had some say in it," says Nieuwlaat. "I think people who have such reactions haven't been looking very closely. The trophy was designed by an artist. It is indeed not a silver big kitschy British cup, but it has become a nice piece of handicraft. We have chosen something different this time. If something is different, you always get reactions to it, that's fine."

During the World Cup, there was also a bit of a fuss when BDO president Des Jacklin came to collect the former World Cup trophy from the last world champion, Mikuru Suzuki, in the presence of his wife. "I didn't get involved very much. I know the WDF acted as an intermediary between Suzuki and the Jacklins. As far as I understand, they already agreed in the summer of 2021 that the cup would be transferred to the BDO, because it belongs to the federation. The cup will be included in the BDO's estate. That estate is being divided up because of the bankruptcy. I didn't see any police cars with lights flashing and no arrests either."

Finally Nieuwlaat, who has known Raymond van Barneveld for a long time, was also asked for his opinion on the performance since his comeback at the beginning of last year. "I think he was definitely satisfied with the first period. He won a Players Championship tournament, maybe sooner than he expected. I think after that the performances were a bit disappointing, but he has his own reasons for that. There have been some things in the private sphere. The goals for the first year should always be to reach the Players Championship Finals and the World Championship.

“And he has done that. Now he has to build on that in the second year. He is already in the top 64 (55th) and has to make the Players Championship Finals and the World Cup again. If things go his way he will also make it to the World Matchplay and World Grand Prix, but then he will have to perform well on the floor tournaments."