“DUTCH wonderkid Jurjen van der Velde has apologised for his wasp-spray stunt after getting his “balls kicked” by darts officials. The nervy youngster was in tears as he walked on for his debut at the World Championship to face Danny Noppert due to the emotion of the occasion on Tuesday night. Sign up for the”, — write: www.thesun.co.uk
The nervy youngster was in tears as he walked on for his debut at the World Championship to face Danny Noppert due to the emotion of the occasion on Tuesday night.
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Van der Velde was in tears as soon as he got on the Ally Pally stageCredit: Taylor Lanning
When the Dutchman jokingly tried to combat the infamous Ally Pally wasp, he didn’t realise he would infuriate PDC officialsCredit: Not known, clear with picture desk Van der Velde, 23, then caused a stir when, having taken a can of insect repellent onto the stage to combat the infamous Ally Pally wasp, he began spraying it around.
He insists his actions were not meant to anger officials but it seems the stunt backfired.
He said: “I sprayed that stuff, but that wasn’t such a smart idea from me. It was meant as a joke, but I got my balls kicked.
“The PDC told me right after the first set. I thought then: ‘It’s good that you hear that right away because I lost the first set and then you have to pull yourself together’, but there were people allergic to it. Well, it certainly wasn’t my intention and I told the PDC right away: ‘sorry about that’.”
Van der Velde began to cry with emotion before he got onto the stage after seeing his family.
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The Dutch star was also sick before his walk-on at the Grand Slam last month.
He added: “This is what I dreamed of as a kid. I watched guys like Raymond van Barneveld and Phil Taylor and all those other legends who stood here. And now I’m here. So awesome. I wanted this so badly.
“Maybe this was my last time. I’m going to watch back all the clips of what I experienced. My dad was here for the first time too.
“Sorry, here I go again. The man is always busy on the farm, so I wanted one thing and that was for him to be here. That he was here, I think that’s fantastic.”
Van der Velde did win the second set after his telling off from officials.
But World No6 Noppert then stepped on the gas to race away from his younger compatriot, who said: “After 1-1, I thought: Right then, put the foot down. But that’s when Danny found another gear. Besides that Audi he has with six gears, he found a seventh one!
“That’s totally fine, I’ll only learn from this. Danny made four major semi-finals this year. You don’t do that by accident.”
Van der Velde joy turned to tears when he saw his familyCredit: Taylor Lanning
The Ally Pally wasp’s great nemesisCredit: Taylor Lanning
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Noppert found the whole wasp-spray incident amusing as it gave him some protection from the pesky creature.
He said: “I really hate wasps. Imagine getting stung in the neck. It could happen to you. I even told the people who were with me to warn me if a wasp started to crawl up my collar.”