DISGUSTING
Pipe under fire as he’s accused of coughing behind opponent
JUSTIN PIPE has been accused of “disgusting” sportsmanship – by deliberately coughing when rival Bernie Smith was about to knock him out.
Former lumberjack Pipe hit the jackpot by landing a second-round tie against retiring legend Phil Taylor at the William Hill PDC world championship tomorrow night.
But his tense 3-2 win against 53-yearold Kiwi qualifier Bernie Smith, a plasterer from Christchurch, is now shrouded in controversy and with Sky Sports commentator Wayne Mardle calling for Pipe to be investigated by the Darts Regulatory Authority.
TV replays showed 46-year-old Pipe moving in to cough as Smith lined up two darts at double 10 for the match when he led 2-1 in the deciding set.
Mardle raged: “It didn’t look good, did it? Every time I see it I think, ‘How desperate are you?’ It looks absolutely despicable behaviour by a professional darts player.
“As we saw on the second VT (video tape), Bernie Smith is there and Justin Pipe moves in to get closer... then he lets out the cough.
“I have been around darts so long and this sort of thing has been going on for years, where someone tries to talk somebody out of the game – but that has gone, what the likes of Peter Manley used to do. What was allowed on a football pitch in the 1970s is not allowed now and it’s exactly the same up there (in darts) now.
“If Justin Pipe needed to cough, he made no effort to turn away. That was a tactic for advantage, that was a tactic to make Bernie Smith miss.
“He got his way – whether Bernie heard it or not is absolutely irrelevant. The intent is there and the DRA (Darts Regulatory Authority) have to do something.
“If Phil Taylor did that, it would be reported on the back page of every newspaper. That was disgusting.”
Mardle’s fellow commentator, Canada’s three-time world champion John Part, said: “The point is that when you feel the need to cough, you go for the water. There was no effort to go for the water there.
“Bernie kind of paused. He might have heard it. If he did, he was very diplomatic.” Taunton-based Pipe last night issued a statement through the Professional Darts Corporation vehemently denying any gamesmanship or dark arts.
He insisted: “I’m bitterly disappointed with the comments made on Sky Sports and it’s not nice for me and my family to hear. I would never do something to put another player off and Bernie didn’t say anything to me on the night. “As far as I’m aware there is no issue from his side and this has been blown out of all proportion. “My focus is on preparing for my game against Phil. It is an honour to be playing him in his final tournament and I just want to concentrate on that match.” Whether the Alexandra Palace crowd will readily forgive Pipe for his perceived chicanery remains to be seen. Another seed bit the dust last night as 18th-ranked Kim Huybrechts of Belgium was thrashed 3-0 by the world No.57, James Richardson.