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02nd Jan 2017

‘Oche invader’ storms world darts final, takes trophy, gets showered with boos and manhandled

The crowd didn't like that one bit

Ben Kiely

Michael van Gerwen is the world champion for the second time following his sensational 7-3 victory over Gary Anderson in the PDC World Darts Championship final.

MVG found himself trailing early when Anderson, who was aiming to become only the third man to win three successive titles, took a 2-1 lead. Van Gerwen didn’t have to endure being behind for too long as he surged ahead winning 12 of the next 13 legs.

Anderson managed to bring the score back to 6-3, but once van Gerwen got to within one set of victory, the Scotsman faced a massive uphill battle. In the end, MVP secured the win with a bullseye and an 85 checkout.

Although van Gerwen’s performance in a game that featured a record 42 180s will undoubtedly be what makes the headlines, one fan’s bid to spoil the show nearly overshadowed everything. At a very tense moment in the match, the fan ran up onto the oche, lifted up the trophy and was drowned in a sea of boos before security escorted him out of the way of the action.

The newly-crowned champion didn’t approve of his antics, admitting in his post-victory interview that the fan may never be allowed to see another darts game again.

“That was a bit sad, to be fair. I was full of frustration. It really wasn’t going well for me at that moment.”

“You always got people like that who try to be funny. He wants to give the trophy, that’s what he wanted to do. It was really nice of him, but he’s not allowed to do that. He’ll probably never see a(nother) dart game in his life anymore.”