Ahead of the world cup of darts in June, Dutch number one Michael Van Gerwen has told the Dutch team he will not be going to the event.
Going into one of the most exciting events in the PDC calendar, Netherlands, as well as the English, Welsh and Scots, are always amongst the favourites to take home the world cup of darts trophy. However, with the absence of MVG it puts a big dent in their hopes for their fifth world cup of darts trophy.
The three time winner of this event feels it isn’t worth attending as he’s already had plenty of success in the tournament, and you don’t gain any ranking money from the tournament. In the past two years, he has had a lot of struggle with injury, with problems in places such as his neck and shoulder. As a man who once dominated the support, he has now been overtaken by the likes of Luke Littler and Luke Humphries, with many others knocking on the door. He still believes he can reach the heights he was reaching in the 2010s, so no need to risk further injury in a non-ranking event.
As for the Dutch team, it leaves them without their star man. Despite this, there is still a strong catalogue of players who will be ready to take his place. As the Dutch number two, Danny Noppert will have been likely to partner up with MVG, so it’s more than likely he will be there. As for who he is joined by, there are three main contenders, with 23 year old Gian Van Veen being the frontrunner. The young man burst on to the scene at the back end of 2023 and has since gone from strength to strength and is tipped to win multiple majors throughout his career, some even putting him as Luke Littler’s closest rival. As well as him, possibilities for both Jermaine Wattimena and Dirk Van Duijvenbode present themselves. The latter has had a drop off in form in recent months, who despite being seeded 31 now, has been inside the top 16 in recent times. As for Wattimena, he has recently broken back in to the world’s top 32 with a brilliant end to 2024, which saw him get into a grand slam quarter final, and runner up in the European Championship.
With no Van Gerwen, the anticipation and expectation has particularly risen for the home nations. England are tipped as hot favourites, being represented by the two best players in the world in the two Luke’s. Both Wales and Scotland are also challengers, both having previous titles in the event. Wales will likely be represented by Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton, whilst Scotland could have two veterans in Gary Anderson and Peter Wright playing for them. The three dark horses for the tournament who cannot be ruled out will be the Germans, Northern Ireland and Belgium. The latter will almost definitely feature Dimitri Van Den Bergh and Mike De Decker in their team, both now PDC major winners. Northern Ireland will likely bring Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney, whilst Germany could bring Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietrezcko, with Gabriel Clemens also in the conversation.
Mighty Mike’s omission certainly opens the playing field in the event, and this year more than ever, there’s numerous teams who will believe they can get their hands on the trophy. The event won’t be short of drama and action, and you can follow all the games on Sky Sports Action and Sky Sports Main Event.
