Van Barneveld ends his career with an opening defeat

The Dutch icon van Barneveld was surprisingly defeated 1:3 in the first round at Alexandra Palace in London by the strong outsider Darin Young from the USA. For the five-time world champion, the World Cup was the last tournament of his impressive career. “I will never forgive myself for this disastrous 2019. Never in my life,” said a disappointed van Barneveld on the Sky microphone: “I played really badly. I was really good at it, that’s it.”

The Englishman Cross, who defeated superstar Phil Taylor in the 2018 World Cup final, had a similar experience. This time, however, hardly anything worked - the 29-year-old lost 0-3 to the Belgian Kim Huybrechts in his opening game. Cross, who was also considered a title contender this year, had a bye in the first round.

The “Barney Army” in the legendary “Ally Pally” loudly supported van Barneveld, but the 52-year-old quickly fell behind against Young. The favorite had a significantly better average in the end, but Young (46) had better nerve in the crucial moments and converted his first match dart. Young, who had previously suffered a total of eight first-round defeats in nine World Cup appearances in his career, caused the biggest surprise of the tournament so far. “Big Daddy”, who had previously only made it to the second round in 2010, will face the Dutchman Jeffrey de Zwaan on Tuesday.

“I’m enjoying absolutely nothing, it’s the worst year of my life,” van Barneveld said in the summer. His last tournament victory was over five years ago, and instead of titles and trophies, the Dutchman's career has recently been dominated by low form, motivation problems and personal setbacks.

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Van Barneveld ends his career with an opening defeat

Raymond van Barneveld (52) ended his career with a bitter opening defeat at the World Darts Championship in London. Former world champion Rob Cross has also already been eliminated.