Peter Wright and Raymond van Barneveld were mentioned in Nick Kenny’s post-win comments (Image: PA)
Nick Kenny claimed that Raymond van Barneveld “isn’t bothered” about their clash while also taking aim at ‘s comments. The Welshman claimed a 3-0 victory over Stowe Buntz in his first-round match at Ally Pally on Thursday (December 19), which set up an interesting clash against the former world champion this weekend.
Should the 31-year-old claim victory over the iconic Dutchman, a clash with reigning champion Luke Humphries may lie in wait and it’s a potential clash that both Van Barneveld and Wright have discussed, with the Scotsman believing the 57-year-old can knock out Cool Hand Luke.
Discussing the pair’s comments following his win over Buntz, the Newport native took exception to them seemingly writing him off before his second-round match, given his confidence heading into the weekend. “I fancy my chances against Barney because I’m the underdog at the end of the day. Play my darts, and I’ve got a good chance of winning.
“Littler follows us, it isn’t the game you all wanted (vs Sherrock). But I know when I’m playing, I’m not waiting for a game to finish, so I’ll do exactly the same as I did today: get the preparation right. We’ve both got three darts so we will see what happens.”
Kenny questioned Van Barneveld’s assuredness that he’ll already make a deep run in the tournament thus setting up a clash with Humphries. “On paper I’m not going to win that game,” he said. “That’s a big statement to make but like he’s already playing Luke Humphries I watched his interview. He’s not even bothered about who he plays.
“He’s already playing Luke, Peter Wright. I don’t know what he’s on about. I’ve got a task on Saturday night. If I win happy days, if I lose happy days. I’ve done what I need to do tonight. I’m relishing the task. Look at the guy that beat Landman, no one knows who he is. All of the 96, the international qualifiers are all turning up this year. Next year will be even better if he (Barry Hearn) is expanding it to 128. I’m not going to underestimate anyone.”
Nick Kenny bested Stowe Buntz 3-0 in his first round clash at Ally Pally (Image: PA)
Kenny admitted that already being written off only makes him want to succeed further as he added: “I’ve beaten a lot of them on the Tour, it don’t hurt, like [Nathan] Aspinall said about writing him off, you want to win a bit more then, but sometimes you can want to win too much, so I had the right level today and I got over the line.”
The darts star was in sumptuous form against his American opponent, who he saw off with an epic 170 checkout as he discussed his stunning finish to the game. “Sum it up as my favourite word. Buzzing. I thought if I play my tour darts, I’ve had a good year best on PDC tour if I can play like I can I will win. I don’t know what the averages was but my doubles were really good. I’m just absolutely buzzing to win,” said Kenny post-match.
“I just thought bugger it just for it. I just thought you could go for treble 18 so I just thought just go for it see what happens. I know he wasn’t on a finish and people have their opinions but I thought just go for it. Then it went in I was like whoa buzzing.”