‘Dimitri’s a bit crazy, Johan Dirksen might say’: Van Gerwin shook hands with ‘Demi dancing’, his opponent tonight in the semi-finals | sports

In Thursday’s quarter-final against guest player Nathan Aspinal, Michael Van Gerwin had three chances to finish in the 29th second leg. Three easy darts for the match, but he failed. The audience in Blackpool played a major role in this. “MVG” was booed en masse and onlookers got into his head.

Even local player Espinal urged fans to leave the Dutchman alone (see video above). They didn’t, but Van Gerwen was able to catch himself. On leg 30, he got the job done, and the joy that followed exploded in droves (see video above).

However, Van Gerwin is used to something. The former tiled has many fans, but also many opponents. The New York Times once called him Michael Jordan for the darts because he dominated the sport. But with those many victories came envy, especially from British fans. They would of course prefer to see someone from the islands win, but especially between 2014 and 2019, “Mighty Mike” was the big guy at darts.

Van Gerwin attracts, too because of him behaviors. The Dutchman is always the same on stage. Very prolific when things are going well, annoying when things are not going well and not always the nicest fellow. Just ask Nathan Aspinall. The Englishman stopped regularly at the moment of his throw last night, only to catch his arrow differently and throw it towards the board.

Fist problems? Van Gerwin said then. “You’re thinking? Well, what if it had something to do with his injury (Aspinal suffered for months with a wrist and elbow injury, editor). To be honest, I thought it looked a lot like arteritis. And that’s not a good thing.” These are statements that Aspinal will not thank him for. Wound infection is a well-known condition among the community. The name sounds funny, but it’s actually a form of performance anxiety. Players get a mental block the moment they want to throw an arrow at the board and they can’t let go.

Another notable incident occurred in 2021 in darts at the World Grand Prix. Then Van Gerwin got into a fight with fellow countryman Danny Neubert. Reason: Van Gerwin was going to stamp on the floor when Neubert stood on a double, after which he went to talk to his opponent in the dressing rooms between the two sets. Neubert eventually won, but he didn’t get a handshake from MVG.

And Dimitri van den Berg can also talk about it. After a clear win over our compatriot in the Premier League, Van Gerwin was eager to “dance Demi”. Well, he threw 140 and 180, but he still had to become a ‘character,’ it seemed then, among other things.

On Thursday, Van Gerwin imitated a gesture that Van den Berg regularly performs (see tweet below) and said again some pretty striking things. “I don’t know where he got the lessons from,” the Dutchman laughed after beating Aspinal. It fits him. ‘He’s a little crazy,’ Johann Dirksen would say.

Will Van den Berg still have an open account?

Van Gerwin looks forward to tonight’s showdown with Dimitri van den Berg: ‘Johan Derricksen will say: he’s a little crazy’

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Previously a bricklayer at Bergkamp and half a year in an obesity clinic, Michael Van Gerwin is now Michael Jordan at darts.