Kai Gotthardt was lost for words after the mishap. (Image: DARTS NOW)
Kai Gotthardt was lost for words after his during his World Darts Championship first-round clash against Scotland’s Alan Soutar. The German trailed 2-1 in the first set before the freak accident, which caused a lengthy delay as he had to leave the stage to find a new set.
Gotthardt lost the first set but recovered by winning three on the spin to beat Soutar 3-1 and book a second-round date with eighth seed Stephen Bunting.
He has been on the receiving end of slack after the incident, with Latvian darts star Madars Razma slating his failure to have a spare set of darts on the oche.
“How is it possible that a pro player doesn’t have an extra set of darts on stage? Some players have two different sets of darts in case,” Razma .
After his opening triumph, Gotthardt was just as disappointed as everyone else, revealing his sponsor had brushed off the need for an extra set of darts.
In his post-match press conference, Gotthardt said: “I can’t find words for this. I thought, ‘Oh my god, what’s happened here?’
“I’ve played with the same set of darts for four-and-a-half years, and nothing [has gone wrong]. No tip broken, nothing.
Kai Gotthardt beat Alan Soutar 3-1. (Image: Getty)
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“I spoke to my sponsor at the start of the game, and they said, ‘You don’t have to take your other barrel to the stage because why?’
“And then… yeah… I can’t find any words for this.”
Soutar didn’t appear too irked by the incident mid-game as he worked the Alexandra Palace crowd, who had jokingly been booing him for his Scottish roots.
During the stoppage, as Gotthardt went backstage to search for a replacement, Sky Sports analyst Laura Turner attempted to explain the situation.
“Players will take spare bits, but depending on what’s happened to the barrel itself, some people don’t have duplicates for their own barrels. They have one unique set,” Turner said.
“I know players who have had the same set for 20, 30 years. It could just be that he needs to find another barrel. He needs to find one quickly.”
Jermaine Wattimena lit up the Ally Pally stage in Sunday’s afternoon session, thumping James Wade 3-0 to progress to round three.
In the evening session, Gerwyn Price looked in the mood for a renaissance as he cruised past Irish 22-year-old Keane Barry, who just couldn’t hit his doubles, in straight sets.