Van Gerwen kicks off world title challenge

MICHAEL Van Gerwen started the defence of his PDC World Championship with a comfortable victory over Christian Kist at Alexandra Palace.

Despite all the talk surrounding Phil Taylor’s quest for a 17th world title before retirement, Van Gerwen still remains the man to beat over the next fortnight.

And the world No 1, who beat Gary Anderson in last year’s final, had no problems sweeping aside fellow Dutchman Kist 3-1 on the opening night.

The signs were ominous from the off, Van Gerwen starting proceedings with a 180 and completing the first set with a stunning 141 checkout.

Kist got on the board in the fifth leg and, although Van Gerwen sealed the second set, the 31-year-old upped his game and halved the deficit.

But Van Gerwen whitewashed Kist in the final set, finishing the match with four 180s and an average of 106 to lay down an early marker to his rivals.

The two-time world champion said: “It is always nice to come back to the Alexandra Palace for the World Championship. A great game like this to start off a tournament is always nice for your confidence.

“I also want to say well done to Christian Kist.

“He put me under pressure and played well. It was a nice start for me. I am really glad I won this game.”

Van Gerwen will take on James Wilson in the second round.

Wilson, who has changed his nickname from ‘Jammy Dodger’ to ‘Lethal Biscuit’, came from behind to see off Krzysztof Ratajski 3-1.

Earlier, Steve Beaton kicked off the evening with a routine 3-1 victory over William O’Connor.

Gerwyn Price eased past Ted Evetts in the final game of the night, completing a 3-0 whitewash.

Meanwhile, Phil Taylor is adamant now is the right time to retire from darts as he bids to end his glittering career with a 17th world title.

Last January the 57-year-old announced the PDC World Championship at Alexandra Palace, which kicked off last night, would be his final competitive appearance.

Taylor is regarded as the greatest darts player of all time, earning over £7 million in prize money and winning more than 200 career titles.

But ‘The Power’, who faces fellow Englishman Chris Dobey in the first round tonight, admits he has made the correct decision to finally hang up his arrows.

“It’s the perfect time for me to go, absolutely perfect,” he said.

“I’m not enjoying it anymore. There’s a lot of pressure on me and a lot of the people that I’m working with now are young people. They’re talking about things I don’t know what they’re talking about. It’s all changed.

“I’ve been playing it over 30 years — that’s more than half my life. To get ready for tournaments and do it properly you have to be very, very dedicated, and I’m not prepared to do that no more.

“I live a very simple life. I will miss it, of course I will. But at the minute I’m not thinking about it because I’ll go all teary.”