‘It sends a bad signal to the sport’ says darts star as he claims Gary Anderson success has set alarm bells ringing
GARY ANDERSON’S success is a “bad signal” for darts according to rival Vincent van der Voort.
The Flying Scotsman delivered a stunning Grand Slam run eventually ended by Luke Littler in the semi-finals.
But Dutchman Van der Voort has hit out that Ando’s glory is not good for the sport.
He said on podcast Darts Draait Door: “This is obviously not how you want to see it.
“It sends a bad signal to the sport when someone like him can suddenly win a tournament like this.
“He is someone who shows up once in a while and does nothing else for it.
“You want someone to win who does everything for the sport, someone who handles it professionally.
“Anderson says everywhere he goes that he plays occasional matches and tournaments and never practices otherwise.
“That you can even visit him to see that it’s really like that.
“He basically wants to indicate that he doesn’t do anything for it.”
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According to Gian van Veen, who Ando beat in the quarters, the Scot is not interested in invitations to other events like the Premier League.
He added: “The PDC would like him, but he won’t say yes to it.
“He’s been saying for years that he won’t do that anymore.
“If he would then suddenly go now, you come across badly.
“But he’s getting stubborn anyway and he’s not going to do it anyway.
“Unless he becomes world champion. Then he is going to get some calls yes.”
Van der Voort added: “But then it would also be stylish if he doesn’t go.
“Again, a bad signal for the sport, but it would also be a nice story.”
List of all-time Darts World Champions
BELOW is a list of Darts world champions by year.
The list does not include winners from the pre-Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) era or BDO world champions.
That means Raymond van Barneveld, for example, is only listed once – Barney also won four BDO titles – and none of Eric Bristow’s five BDO titles are included.
- 1994 – Dennis Priestley
- 1995 – Phil Taylor
- 1996 – Phil Taylor (2)
- 1997 – Phil Taylor (3)
- 1998 – Phil Taylor (4)
- 1999 – Phil Taylor (5)
- 2000 – Phil Taylor (6)
- 2001 – Phil Taylor (7)
- 2002 – Phil Taylor (8)
- 2003 – John Part
- 2004 – Phil Taylor (9)
- 2005 – Phil Taylor (10)
- 2006 – Phil Taylor (11)
- 2007 – Raymond van Barneveld
- 2008 – John Part (2)
- 2009 – Phil Taylor (12)
- 2010 – Phil Taylor (13)
- 2011 – Adrian Lewis
- 2012 – Adrian Lewis (2)
- 2013 – Phil Taylor (14)
- 2014 – Michael van Gerwen
- 2015 – Gary Anderson
- 2016 – Gary Anderson (2)
- 2017 – Michael van Gerwen (2)
- 2018 – Rob Cross
- 2019 – Michael van Gerwen (3)
- 2020 – Peter Wright
- 2021 – Gerwyn Price
- 2022 – Peter Wright (2)
- 2023 – Michael Smith
- 2024 – Luke Humphries
Most World Titles
- 14 – Phil Taylor
- 3 – Michael van Gerwen
- 2 – John Part, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright
- 1 – Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Luke Humphries