Thrown in...
I took a flight on Saturday morning to London to watch the PDC World Championship live.
From the airport I took the direct way to the hotel, where I was lucky to be able already to get into my room. Q quick detour to buy some food and off to the Alexandra Place where I was plunged without preparation into the cold water relatively the first walk-on of the afternoon session.
The venue was filled well; the atmosphere was great and the noise ear-splitting.
I looked for a place in the pressroom first, got me a program and whatever was necessary. After I had recovered my breath, I read through the photographers instructions for the tournament and then took a look around from where I might be able to take the best pictures. So I not really got an impression of the first match beside that Jarkko Komula showed a strong performance.
Till the second match started I had sorted everything our and made some slow progress in the direction of the stage. One can't see it on TV but during the Walk-on the photographers are allowed to stand on a platform beside the stairs leading on the stage. People in the venue of course can see you while clamber about on it. How many photographers jostle for the best position differs from day to day and from match to match. Before the Preliminary Round matches almost no one is around while when players like Barney play you have to turn up as early as possible.
On Saturday afternoon there was a lot of action: two nine-darters, seeded players who crushed out and with Kyle Anderson the crowd had a new favourite player.
After this the evening session looked rather quiet, all seeded players progressed and both German players were eliminated. Andree Welge never seemed to be into the match - he just doesn't seem to be able to settle on the big stage, to blend out the pressure and the cloud and sells himself short. Max Hopp looked much less impressed and won a great first set, but then became weaker against Robert Thornton. He is not the only player who's only the energy for a single outstanding set but he's still very young and there is a great chance he'll overcome the problem.
My impression of the Saturday was that one should be prepared for upsets und that all in all the international qualifiers seem to get stronger. That showed both the more known for soft-darts Julio Barbero from Spain and Per Laursen though Laursen is quite experienced in playing the PDC World Championship. And of course it showed with Kyle Anderson and his nine-darter.
When the evening ended I was out on my feet and thanks to the roaring loudspeakers beside the stage almost deaf. When they stroked out for the first time I almost fell off the photographer's platform. Outside the weather had changed from sunny and dry to very dark and very wet but at least it was not cold.
The venue was filled well; the atmosphere was great and the noise ear-splitting.
I looked for a place in the pressroom first, got me a program and whatever was necessary. After I had recovered my breath, I read through the photographers instructions for the tournament and then took a look around from where I might be able to take the best pictures. So I not really got an impression of the first match beside that Jarkko Komula showed a strong performance.
Till the second match started I had sorted everything our and made some slow progress in the direction of the stage. One can't see it on TV but during the Walk-on the photographers are allowed to stand on a platform beside the stairs leading on the stage. People in the venue of course can see you while clamber about on it. How many photographers jostle for the best position differs from day to day and from match to match. Before the Preliminary Round matches almost no one is around while when players like Barney play you have to turn up as early as possible.
On Saturday afternoon there was a lot of action: two nine-darters, seeded players who crushed out and with Kyle Anderson the crowd had a new favourite player.
After this the evening session looked rather quiet, all seeded players progressed and both German players were eliminated. Andree Welge never seemed to be into the match - he just doesn't seem to be able to settle on the big stage, to blend out the pressure and the cloud and sells himself short. Max Hopp looked much less impressed and won a great first set, but then became weaker against Robert Thornton. He is not the only player who's only the energy for a single outstanding set but he's still very young and there is a great chance he'll overcome the problem.
My impression of the Saturday was that one should be prepared for upsets und that all in all the international qualifiers seem to get stronger. That showed both the more known for soft-darts Julio Barbero from Spain and Per Laursen though Laursen is quite experienced in playing the PDC World Championship. And of course it showed with Kyle Anderson and his nine-darter.
When the evening ended I was out on my feet and thanks to the roaring loudspeakers beside the stage almost deaf. When they stroked out for the first time I almost fell off the photographer's platform. Outside the weather had changed from sunny and dry to very dark and very wet but at least it was not cold.