Darts fans demand the ‘sham’ World Championship at Alexandra Palace is POSTPONED after Dave Chisnall is the third player to be forced out by Covid, missing out on a £500,000 top prize, and with world No 1 Gerwyn Price furious at the ‘devalued’ tour
- Dave Chisnall has been forced out of the World Darts Championship by Covid
- Michael van Gerwen hit out at the event’s organisers after testing positive
- The latest withdrawal has raised fears that big matches could end as walkovers
Dave Chisnall has become the third player to be forced out of the World Darts Championship after testing positive for coronavirus.
Three-time champion Michael van Gerwen hit out at the event’s organisers after he had to pull out of the competition after a positive Covid test.
The latest withdrawal has raised fears that several big matches could end as walkovers with five days of action left.
Dave Chisnall has become the third player to be forced out of the World Darts Championship
Michael Van Gerwen was forced out of World Darts Championship through Covid on Tuesday
A PDC Darts statement on Wednesday read: ‘Dave Chisnall has withdrawn from the William Hill World Darts Championship after testing positive for Covid-19 ahead of his match with Luke Humphries.
‘Humphries will receive a bye to the last 16 and Wednesday afternoon’s session will continue with two matches.
‘Jose de Sousa will play Alan Soutar, and Nathan Aspinall then plays Callan Rydz.’
Dutch darts legend Raymond van Barneveld revealed he had Covid after crashing out of the Championship at the weekend.
While Vincent van der Voort was ruled out of the tournament after testing positive for Covid, handing James Wade a bye into the fourth round.
Van Gerwen was the next high-profile star to test positive and he was less than impressed.
Van Gerwen tweeted on Tuesday night: ‘Really disappointed, confused, angry…..the way how my world championship is ending.
‘Never expected this outcome as I thought I did everything in my possibility to avoid it. Also ain’t got any symptoms.
Van Gerwen and Van Der Voort spent Christmas together before the latter contracted Covid
‘Closing this year of really quickly. Fans I’ll be back stronger!’
Van Gerwen was left less than impressed by the turn of events, which follows on from fellow countryman Vincent Van Der Voort having also tested positive and being forced into isolation.
‘Of course our health is the most important thing, but you are here to win the tournament,’ Van Gerwen told Dutch media outlet AD Sportwereld.
‘I never saw this coming. Vincent and I have been almost nowhere. We didn’t even go to the breakfast room (at the hotel), because we thought it was too busy there.
‘We get to sit here together now, but we had imagined this very differently. Again, this is really the biggest nightmare.
‘I test myself here every day. I don’t know where I got it. Yet we are the loser.’