Featured Image Credit: OfficialPDC via X
Topics: Darts
James Taylor
A darts player has hit out at officials after being ruled to have thrown an 'illegal dart' during his defeat at the Players Championship Finals.
The PDC's final major event before the start of the World Championships got underway on Friday, featuring many of the sport's biggest names.
That included the newly crowned world number one, Luke Littler, who cruised through his opening round match with a 6-1 victory over Jeffrey de Graaf.
However, Luke Humphries, who lost the recent Grand Slam of Darts final to Littler, suffered a shock early exit.
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In a thrilling contest, Gian van Veen beat Humphries 6-5 - the Dutchman's fourth consecutive win against the former world champion.
But one of the most surprising incidents of the opening round came during Dirk van Duijvenbode's match against Madars Razma.
Trailing 5-3 in legs, van Duijvenbode needed to hit double 10 to stay in the leg and reduce the deficit.
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He was only able to hit the single 10, and then missed again when aiming for double five, instead finding the single five.
That left him with five remaining and just one dart in hand, meaning he could no longer check out.
To leave himself with a checkout of 20 for the next time he stepped up to the oche, van Duijvenbode then attempted to go bust with his final throw, and hit the treble eight.
But his final dart was ruled not to count, as he had stepped over the oche before releasing it.
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After the ruling, van Duijvenbode went straight up to the referee and vented his frustrations.
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Ultimately, it did not matter, because Razma stepped up to the oche and hit the double four he needed with his first dart.
The pair shook hands at the end of the match, before van Duijvenbode headed back towards the match officials, wanting clarity about why his final dart had not counted.
Van Duijvenbode has enjoyed some strong runs at the Players Championship Finals in the past.
Just last year, he reached the semi-finals, where he lost 11-8 to eventual winner Humphries.
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The Titan has never made it further than the semi-finals at any other major PDC event.
Meanwhile, Razma will now advance to the second round of the Players Championship Finals, where he will face Danny Noppert.
They have only played three times before, with Noppert holding the advantage with two victories to Razma's one.
Even if the Latvian defeats Noppert, it will still be difficult to go far in the tournament, with Nathan Aspinall his most likely third-round opponent.