2023 Grand Slam of Darts: Michael Van Gerwen wants fourth title and slams the new venue

National World - LocalTV

The darts circuit has been hotting up as we near the final few majors on the calendar.  We’re at the Grand Slam hosted in Wolverhampton and as the action packed group stages have concluded, we spoke to Michael Van Gerwen, Peter Wright and more to look back at the action so far.

Transcript

00:00 Peter Wright started his campaign in the worst possible way, losing against debutant Snow

00:06 Bunce from the US.

00:08 Snakebite does however understand the importance of darts at this time of the year.

00:13 So we saw Michael Smith go on, win here, then win in the world.

00:17 How much of a boost could it be winning here?

00:20 Yeah, obviously it would be a boost, but I've won the European so that's a boost.

00:26 And that was only a couple of weeks ago, so yes, it helps mentally as I play.

00:35 You see Gary Hansen win the Players' Championship and went on to win the World's.

00:40 So yeah, these two tournaments, the Europeans are stepping stones for the World Championships.

00:48 Last year's Grand Slam tournament here saw the emerging star Josh Rock fly through the

00:53 group only to be denied access to the latter stages by three-time winner Michael Van Gerwen.

00:59 The Northern Irishman is looking on course to make another Grand Slam impression as he

01:04 flew through his group, casting aside top players Chris Doby and Johnny Clayton.

01:10 I think it must be the occasion because I knew when I came here I was like, I like this

01:14 venue, obviously what I've done, so I think it's just stuck in my head.

01:17 But I can guarantee I'll play a lot better when it comes to the last six teams because

01:20 it's a longer format and I will concentrate a lot more.

01:23 So I just take one game at a time and I'll see what Josh Rock turns up.

01:28 With Michael Van Gerwen looking to add a fourth title to his name, he has yet to win the Grand

01:33 Slam at WV Active in Aldersley here since it moved from the Civic Hall where it was

01:37 staged between its debut in 2007 all the way up to 2017.

01:42 NVG had a bit to say on the change of venue, but also on the importance of darts at this

01:48 time of the year.

01:49 Of course I was a little bit distracted by a few people in the crowd and normally when

01:54 I'm in a good mood the crowd doesn't distract me and I only can blame myself for that.

02:00 Even a couple of the crowd was a little bit out of order but that's the way how darts

02:05 go sometimes.

02:06 Obviously you haven't had success here in Wolverhampton for quite a few years now.

02:11 The stupid venue and everyone in the stupid venue.

02:15 We need to go back to the Civic Hall and smash them everyone.

02:19 You must have your eyes set on a fourth championship here.

02:23 It's tough.

02:24 It's a nice big tournament for me to play in but I've not been playing too well lately

02:30 in this.

02:31 Of course I played okay in this venue.

02:32 I played my games and I played some good games where you want to play superb and you want

02:38 to put everyone at his place and I've not been doing that lately so I need to make sure

02:43 I'm going to do that this year.

02:45 I won probably most of the tournaments and still lost in the finals so it doesn't mean

02:50 anything.

02:53 Another fantastic tournament in Wolverhampton is brewing and maybe another new name could

02:58 be engraved on the Eric Bristow trophy when it reaches its conclusion.

03:02 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Category

Transcript

Recommended