BARNEY BATTLING BRUTAL FLU AHEAD OF WORLDS

RAYMOND VAN BARNEVELD has admitted he is still fighting off the flu as he heads into the World Darts Championship.

‘Barney’ was floored by illness during the Players Championship Finals, where he crashed out in the first round to Krzysztof Ratajski, and says he’s still not back to full strength.

The five-time World Champ takes on Swiss No1 Stefan Bellmont in his Ally Pally opener and insists he can’t afford to take the Challenge Tour winner lightly.

Van Barneveld just hopes the bug doesn’t hang around and derail his bid for another deep run on the sport’s biggest stage.

He told Viaplay: “I had a really bad flu in Minehead, it was awful.

“I simply didn’t have the energy to produce anything decent. In the end it was just a case of collecting the prize money and getting home as quickly as possible.

“Well, I hope this is it now. Last year I was sick for two months after the Worlds and that really wasn’t pleasant.

“But we’ll give it everything again. I’ll do my best.

“Stefan’s a good player. He did well on the Challenge Tour, didn’t he?

“That means you play a fair number of Pro Tour events.

“He’s a slow player. I watched him a bit at the Grand Slam last week. I wasn’t hugely impressed, but he did reasonably well.

“I think he’s capable of more. That last group match wasn’t great, but he’s still a strong opponent and definitely not someone to take lightly.”

With Damon Heta or Steve Lennon likely waiting next, pundits believe the 58-year-old could go deep if he finds top form, but the Dutchman was already looking further ahead in the draw.

He added: “I’m in Mr Littler’s section as well, I assume?”

World No.35 Van Barneveld has reached only two ProTour quarter-finals all year, at Players Championship 10 and the Swiss Darts Trophy.

Van Barneveld last made a semi-final at a TV event in 2022 at the Grand Slam of Darts.

Image by Taylor Lanning.