PDC WORLD DARTS
CLOG almighty ‘Sir’ Michael van Gerwen will bring Saturday knight fever to the oche tonight.
But as MVG launches his bid for a third title at the William Hill PDC World Championship at Ally Pally, he promised it won’t be an end-of-the-peer show. Van Gerwen joins the fancy dress party after a year in which he was awarded the Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau Medal (right) by his local mayor on behalf of King Willem-Alexander.
Van Gerwen is sporting royalty in Holland. Two years ago, after beating Gary Anderson in the final, his postmatch celebrations backstage were interrupted by a congratulatory call from Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
He then said: “Did I vote for him? No – but he’s a very nice man.”
But as a knight of the realm, he is unique in darts.
Van Gerwen said: “It’s a nice thing to have – you get a lot of pleasure out of them giving you a knighthood – but it’s combined with the work I do for charity as well as the darts. “I am very privileged to have the knighthood. I think I am the youngest Dutch guy ever to be awarded one. It’s a different system in Holland – the one I have is probably ranked somewhere between the MBE and OBE in the UK honours system. But it’s nice to be recognised because it’s good for darts in general and for the people around me.”
For all his nobility, the world No.1 has returned to more common ground since retaining his Premier League crown in May, and he was knocked out of the World Matchplay in the first round by compatriot Jeffrey de Zwaan in July.
He faces Alan Tabern tonight in the second round and said: “Has my ‘invincible’ tag gone? Not as far as I’m concerned. Last month I reached the Grand Slam semi-final and the Players Championship final.
“Everyone goes through patches where it doesn’t quite happen, but I won’t make the same mistakes again. I know where I went wrong and I’ll rectify those errors.
“The only thing that has been lacking is just one or two per cent of sharpness towards the end of games. I’m still the man to beat.
“There are 96 players in the competition and
I believe I am better than 95 of them.
“They know what I can do.”