Belgian Number 1 and former World Matchplay champion Dimitri van den Bergh gets his Cazoo 2023 World Darts Championship campaign underway tonight, facing Lourence Ilagen who beat this year’s European Darts Matchplay Runner Up Rowby-John Rodriguez.
The Dream Maker suffered an early exit before Christmas having lost 3-1 to Florian Hempel, despite averaging over a ton over the course of the four sets. His Second-Round match will be another difficult one in 2023, with his Philippian opponent showing real character after winning a sudden death decider in Friday’s evening session.
The Belgian claimed two World Series events having beat veteran Gary Anderson to win the Nordic Darts Masters in Copenhagen, before a win over Dirk van Duijvenbode to win the Dutch Darts Masters in Amsterdam.
Van den Bergh hasn’t won a Players Championship event in 2022 having claimed two in 2021, losing to a ton plus average from Masters champion Joe Cullen in the Final of Players Championship 4 in Wigan.
The Antwerp thrower has never made it past the Quarter Finals at the Alexandra Palace, losing to Nathan Aspinall back in 2020 having knocked the likes of Josh Payne and former back-to-back World Champion Adrian Lewis out in previous rounds.
The confidence came for the 28-year-old during lockdown, in which he spent his time during the pandemic with recent World Champion at the time Peter Wright. A practice partner benefitted the Belgian and his game, with the evidence showing at the 2020 World Matchplay after Van den Bergh got his hands on the Phil Taylor Trophy.
The Dream Maker realised his darting destiny after claiming his very first PDC televised major title, averaging over 98 to beat Gary Anderson 18-10 in the Final. The former World Series runner up nearly came close to defending the trophy but lost to Peter Wright in the Final at the Winter Gardens, with Snakebite going on to win the World Championship six months later.
Dimitri is in Second Round action at the end of Saturday’s evening session, with Red Dragon man Ryan Meikle taking on Women’s Series Number 1 Lisa Ashton at the Alexandra Palace.
Grand Slam 9 dart hero Josh Rock makes his debut on the world stage in the penultimate match, facing Spaniard Jose Justicia for the right to play 23rd Seed Callan Rydz.
2023 Cazoo World Darts Championship: Day 3 Evening Order of Play
Round 1:
Ryan Meikle v Lisa Ashton
Cameron Menzies v Diogo Portela
Josh Rock v Jose Justicia
Round 2:
Dimitri van den Bergh (15) v Lourence Ilagen
—–ENDS—-
Images: PDC
Grab your copy of Darts World 581 here while stock lasts:
Images: Featured – Darts World.
The Darts World 50 will be available to order (Here) from November 15th 2022 with release and delivery expected in early December
Also Available Free: Darts World Extra 6
Darts World Magazine (Issue 580) and fantastic value bundle offers:
Subscribe or purchase your copy
