Darts: Hopp celebrates dream comeback

Dream comeback on the big darts stage for Max Hopp at the NEO.bet German Darts Championship. The former German number one beat José de Sousa, number 30 in the world rankings, 6:2 and moved straight into the second round in his first game at a major PDC tournament in over two years.

“That was an incredibly emotional victory for me,” said Hopp after the game on SPORT1-Micro: “I’m overjoyed that I was able to make such a debut, even if something still has to happen by tomorrow for it to work out against Joe Cullen.” In the second round, he will now face Joe Cullen, as mentioned. Hopp returns to the PDC stage in Hildesheim. The “Maximiser” qualified for the tournament via the Host Nation Qualifier and was thus able to secure his ticket for a major PDC tournament.

“I just had fun tonight. I’ve lost a lot in the last few years and thought that I could only win tonight. I think I brought that feeling onto the stage. I think I made a lot of people around me and a lot of loyal fans happy and I’m just happy to be taking part in a European tournament on a Saturday,” said Hopp.

Hopp started the match perfectly. He threw his first 180 with his first three darts and broke straight away in the first leg to take a 1-0 lead. This break gave the 28-year-old a boost and he was able to pull away to 4-0 despite his opponent’s weak play.

Then Hopp really worked his magic: to take a 5-0 lead at the end of the fifth leg, he played six perfect darts. First, he started with his second 180 of the match at 144 remaining and then took the 5-0 lead with a spectacular high finish. But Hopp still missed the white wash. He missed a whopping four match darts in the sixth leg and brought de Sousa back into the game. The Portuguese then took his second leg in spectacular fashion. With 120 remaining, he checked the leg with three tops. But Hopp was unimpressed by this finish and ended the game with his sixth match dart in the next leg.

He missed the second round against rising star Niko Springer. The 24-year-old, who is currently impressing on the Development Tour, lost 4:6 to a strong Peter Wright in a high-class match.

Wright impressed with four high finishes and won four of her six legs with a finish of over 100 points (100, 105, 116, 120). Overall, the Scot, who has recently been struggling, impressed with an average of 95.15 and a double rate of 40 percent (6/15).

Springer’s match statistics read even better with an average of 95.7 and a double rate of 50 percent (4/8), but Wright showed himself to be unruly, especially in the decisive moments.

The tenth and final leg was representative of this. After an outstanding 128 finish to make it 4:5, the German began the following leg with six perfect darts. Wright stayed with it and took the leg and thus the win.

The German darts professionals did not get off to a good start in the German Darts Championship. Both German representatives, Dragutin Horvat and Matthias Ehlers, were clearly eliminated in the afternoon session.

Horvat lost to the favorite Krzysztof Ratajski 3:6. The Pole pulled away early with strong scoring and brought the victory home with a confident 93.68 average and a doubles rate of 37.5 percent. Horvat played a weak game, scoring only 86.6 points on average and wasting far too many chances on the doubles (3/13).

Matthias Ehlers also had no chance against Mickey Mansell. In a weak match, Ehlers clearly lost to the Briton 2:6 and never found his game. He only scored 80.02 points on average and only hit 20 percent of the doubles (2/10).