Darts World Cup sensation: Smith's early exit shocks fans and experts!

Darts World Cup sensation: Smith's early exit shocks fans and experts!

The World Darts Championship is already causing amazement and excitement in the early stages! Michael Smith, who started the tournament as number two in the world, experienced one of the biggest surprises of the tournament. He failed in the second round against the surprising Dutchman Kevin Doets, currently ranked 51st. The match developed into a duel of nerves: After initial uncertainty, Smith found his rhythm and equalized to 2:2, but in the decisive extra time Doets showed his strength and won 6:4 in the last set, which made him the triumphant winner. Smith was previously the world champion in 2023 and now had to give up early, which probably shocked his audience. How Sports1 reported, this was already the early end for the defending champions.

Doets could hardly believe his luck and declared euphorically in the press conference: “This will be the best Christmas of my life.” Smith, however, stayed away from the press conference and apparently didn't want to say a word about his disappointing performance. The loss not only means a meager win record for Smith - the 500,000 euros from his title win in 2023 are no longer counted, and he only receives 15,000 euros for being eliminated in the second round. In addition, he has now slipped to 15th place in the world rankings, which is a bitter setback. The series of big favorites continued in this World Cup, as three other top 32 players, Mike de Decker, James Wade and Gabriel Clemens, had already left the tournament early Laola1 reported.

So the tension remains high at the World Darts Championship, while the seeded players are still on the fence and the surprises don't seem to be over yet. Can we expect more unexpected twists and turns? The fans can be excited!