Michael van Gerwen warned his rivals: “I will be top soon, don’t worry.”

Michael van Gerwen warned his rivals: “I will be top soon, don’t worry.”

In Sunday’s Players Championship 8, Michael van Gerwen denied Martin Schindler a first ProTour victory, continuing his own run of success with a second ranking title of 2022.

The Dutchman, who won the German Darts Championship a fortnight ago, won the £12,000 title in the final of the German-based ProTour weekend at the H+ Hotel in Niedernhausen, defeating Schindler 8-4.

Schindler, a German ace, had battled his way to his first Players Championship final, but he couldn’t match the three-time World Champion.

“I think I did the right things at the right moments and that makes you win finals like this,” said Van Gerwen. “I didn’t play phenomenal but I think I did okay today.

“You want to keep pushing and keep performing well and that takes a lot of energy out of you, but I’m not here to play a few rounds, I want to win these tournaments. It gives you more confidence and more energy.

“The only medicine for getting back on track is winning games and winning tournaments. That’s the only thing you can do.

“I was hanging in there and I never gave up, and I think today my focus was there and absolute will to win was there, and that’s the only thing that matters.”

“Martin is a good player, especially for the German market, and he’s doing a good job for himself,” added Van Gerwen.

“He’s a really good dart player and you need to make sure you keep your focus going and put him under pressure, because he can play really well and you don’t want to give him the confidence.”

 

Michael van Gerwen warned his rivals: “I will be top soon, don’t worry.

 

“Last year was, of course, a disaster for me. If you look towards the ranking system, I lost £200,000 in my world ranking [at the World Championship] because of Covid, which you can’t do anything against.

 “There was £250,000 probably in Euro Tours, so that’s £450,000 off the ranking that I couldn’t do anything against. So if you look towards that perspective, there’s not really a lot you can do – but I always want to aim for more, and I keep believing in myself.

 “I’m still favourite with the bookies. People have their own opinion, but if I still play my game it’s still tough to beat me and they all know that. They don’t admit it but that’s how life is.”

 

 

2022 Players Championship 8

Sunday March 27, H+ Hotel, Niedernhausen

Last 16

Martin Schindler 6-2 Jamie Hughes

Daryl Gurney 6-5 Krzysztof Ratajski

Stephen Bunting 6-3 Rob Cross

Adrian Lewis 6-5 Damon Heta

Michael van Gerwen 6-3 Danny Noppert

Brendan Dolan 6-4 Danny Jansen

James Wade 6-3 Keane Barry

Luke Humphries 6-3 Jermaine Wattimena

 

Quarter-Finals

Martin Schindler 6-2 Daryl Gurney

Adrian Lewis 6-4 Stephen Bunting 

Michael van Gerwen 6-4 Brendan Dolan

Luke Humphries 6-5 James Wade

 

Semi-Finals

Martin Schindler 7-2 Adrian Lewis

Michael van Gerwen 7-5 Luke Humphries

 

Final

Michael van Gerwen 8-4 Martin Schindler