Dimitri van den Bergh edges world champion Luke Humphries in thrilling final to win UK Open amid bizarre antics from the Belgian… with fans convinced he was DRUNK!
- The Belgian put in a bizarre performance on Sunday in the exciting UK Open final
- Dimitri van den Bergh frustrated Luke Humphries during his title victory
- Some fans are convinced that Van den Bergh was drunk during the match
Darts fans are convinced that Dutchman Dimitri van den Bergh was drunk during Sunday’s UK Open victory over Luke Humphries.
The 29-year-old overtook the reigning world champion to win the match in a thrilling final leg that saw Humphries first miss a chance to claim victory before Van den Bergh made the winning throw.
However, his behavior and general attitude in the grand final at Butlin’s Minehead resulted in much frustration among the supporters and Humphries himself.
Humphries had fought back from 10-8 in the best of 21 match to take the match into a sudden death decider and was temporarily halted by his opponent who appeared to be deliberately trying to slow things down at the start of the 19th leg.
Van den Bergh postponed his throw to have to wait a long time before approaching the oche to start laying at a time when Humphries was on the rise.
Darts fans are convinced Dutchman Dimitri van den Bergh was drunk during Sunday’s UK Open victory
The Belgian defeated reigning world champion Luke Humphries in the UK Open final on Sunday
His opponent remained calm before the stage started, but was not matched by a frustrated crowd shouting their concerns from the arena.
An emotional Van den Bergh rolled around on the floor after securing the first UK Open title of his career, and fans mocked his bizarre theatrics after the match.
“Van Den Bergh is a drunk like I have never seen before,” said a critical post on X.
Another similar comment added: ‘Van den Bergh so drunk and weird haha.’
Humphries then also hit out at his opponent’s ‘slow’ style, fuming: ‘He’s one of the hardest players to play because he’s incredibly slow and obviously takes a long time to get his darts out.
“That’s not what I’m used to from him, this is clearly a new adjustment to his game.”
The Belgian star then dedicated the theatrical victory to his late grandfather, saying: ‘First of all, he (Humphries) showed again why he is world champion.
The Belgian survived a tense and nervous finish to win the fascinating encounter
“There was a point where I was 10-7 or 10-8 and I thought, ‘I’m one leg away’ and I just lost it.
‘I lost my nerve, but suddenly things turned around. “I have to say my grandpa passed away two years ago and this is my first big win since then – this is for him,” he added.
‘You win some, you lose some, you have to dig deep and try, it’s very simple, this year I’ve always been a little leery of sports psychologists – they were probably my last choice if I wanted to get better and stronger, but I said ‘give it a try’.
‘And here and now I really think I made the right choice. Luke also told me it works and here I have gold – Grandpa, I have gold!’ said Van den Bergh.