Michael van Gerwen fails again in the first round. The Dutchman risks missing the Players Championship Finals. Another top star throws a 9-darter.
The sporting setbacks continue for Michael van Gerwen: After his crushing exit at the World Grand Prix, the Dutchman now has to worry about qualifying for the Players Championship Finals.
In the 31st event of the tournament series, van Gerwen was eliminated in the first round on Tuesday afternoon with a 4-6 defeat against Dom Taylor. While the Englishman impressed with a three-dart average of 104.76 points, MvG only managed 98.24 points.
This leaves the three-time world champion with only one chance to qualify for the final tournament: in the next event on Wednesday. Van Gerwen plans to skip the last two Players Championship events taking place at the end of October.
To even have a chance at the finals, van Gerwen would need to at least reach the final on Wednesday. Currently, he is lagging far behind in 93rd place, with the top 64 players qualifying for the final tournament.
It would be the first time in his career that “Mighty Mike” would miss this major tournament, the dress rehearsal for the World Championship (starting December 11 LIVE on SPORT1 ).
While van Gerwen had major problems, another top star provided a big highlight: Nathan Aspinall threw a 9-darter in the round of the last 64.
The perfect leg was achieved by “The Asp” in the second round against Steve Lennon to level the score at 1-1. He carried this momentum forward and ultimately won the match 6-4.
Luke Littler also suffered another setback: The 18-year-old lost his first-round match 4-6 against Ritchie Edhouse.
Littler, who had surprisingly lost to Beau Greaves in the World Youth Championship on Monday, also needs more prize money to qualify for the Finals. The same fate threatens, among others, Nathan Aspinall and Dimitri Van den Bergh.