VAN DEN BERGH ADMITS HE ‘LOST’ HIS THROW DURING DARTS NIGHTMARE

DIMITRI VAN DEN BERGH admitted he “lost” his throw during a horror spell on the oche.

The Dreammaker ended a 418-day wait for a European Tour appearance with victory at the Baltic Sea Open.

The Belgian defeated Alan Soutar 6-2 after reeling off six legs on the spin to book a second-round clash against top seed Gian van Veen.

But Van den Bergh revealed how tension in his arm and fingers destroyed his confidence and left him unable to control his darts.

He said: “I don’t even know how it happened. I don’t know why it came but I was practicing with my brother last year from September all the way up to end of November.

“And for some reason there came some tension in my arm and in the two outside fingers which also meant every time I brought up my arm, there was tension and the two fingers just lifted.

“I lost the throw. I couldn’t get any control of it, there was no good feeling about it.”

Van den Bergh has endured a miserable season so far, failing to reach a single ProTour quarter-final.

The world No37 hasn’t tasted victory at a major event since the UK Open last year.

Van den Bergh revealed he has completely changed his action in a desperate attempt to revive his career and save his Tour Card.

He added: “Since this year, a week before the UK Open, I decided to change the throw and I started to just throw in a new way just with three fingers.

“And this is just me with a new throw, developing, giving myself a better feeling, more control, and less things can go wrong.

“I feel easier with it, I feel less worried about it than I was three, four months ago, which is a massive improvement for me because I have a really big year ahead of me because I might be losing a tour card.

“I am back in the top 64, but the main goal is to make sure I’m qualified for the world championships.”

The two-time major winner admits his children are now the driving force behind his bid to rediscover his best form.

He continued: “I took a break in April up to June, up to the World Cup.

“The first week or two, I literally chose to not throw a dart and just be away from it all, empty the mind, work through the progress, breathe.

“There is much more to life than just darts.

“And obviously, I’m a dad as well. I’ve got two kids on earth now.

“They are my main reason why I want to be really good at darts, why I know that I can provide them, that I’ll be able to make their dreams come true.”

Image by Taylor Lanning.