Hard work paying off for Barney at the Grand Slam
Former champion Raymond van Barneveld continued his resurgence to secure top spot in his group at the Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton last night.
Van Barneveld – a Grand Slam winner in 2012 – was already assured of qualification after following up his opening win over Dave Chisnall with a sensational deciding-leg victory against reigning champion Gerwyn Price on Sunday.
Price and Chisnall then engaged in more drama late yesterday as the Welshman survived two match darts to beat ‘Chizzy’ and continue his fine record at Aldersley Leisure Village, reaching the last 16 with a 5-4 victory.
However, it was five-time world champion van Barneveld who wrapped up top spot on Monday with an emphatic 5-0 victory over world youth champion Ted Evetts, averaging 96 and taking out a superb 126 checkout to cap off a classy display.
“I played well. I’m feeling relaxed and I have a wonderful life at the moment,” said Van Barneveld, who is through to the last 16 in Wolverhampton for the first time since 2017. “The hard work pays off. I’ve got massive support on social media, I’m the group winner and I’m amazingly proud of myself.”
There was also Dutch delight for Danny Noppert and Dirk van Duijvenbode, who claimed top spot in Groups B and D respectively. Noppert came through a gruelling nine-leg tussle against Mensur Suljovic to claim his third consecutive victory in Group B, recovering from 4-3 down to dump out the Austrian.
Noppert advanced alongside Australia’s World Cup winner Simon Whitlock, who produced a superb display of power-scoring to overcome PDC Asian Champion Christian Perez 5-3.
Perez opened up an early 2-0 lead, but Whitlock crashed in six 180s in as many legs to complete the comeback, averaging 99 to advance as Group B runner-up and set up a last 16 showdown against Van Barneveld.
Meanwhile, in the evening’s opener, Van Duijvenbode confirmed top spot in Group D, defying five 180s from Adam Gawlas to maintain his 100 per cent record in this year’s Group Stage.
Van Duijvenbode averaged 98, landed three 180s and converted 56 per cent of his attempts at double to continue his fine form, wrapping up victory with a 14-dart hold.
The £650,000 tournament continues on Tuesday, where players in Groups E-H will return for their final round of group matches, including a crunch clash between World Champion Peter Wright and World Grand Prix runner-up Nathan Aspinall.
