SKY SPORTS pundit Glen Durrant received a text message live on air from Dimitri Van den Bergh almost apologising for his shock exit from the World Darts Championship.
The Belgian was dumped out in the first round at Ally Pally after a crushing 3-0 defeat to debutant Darren Beveridge in Sunday’s evening session.
Van den Bergh, 31, endured a torrid night and managed to win just one leg as his struggles over the past year continued on the sport’s biggest stage.
The former World Matchplay champion stepped away from darts indefinitely in April to focus on family life and ruled out a full-time return to the tour.
He later withdrew from a Players Championship event minutes before facing Jose de Sousa before making his comeback at the World Cup of Darts with Belgium in June.
Speaking live on Sky Sports, Durrant admitted he was saddened by what he had just witnessed and revealed Van den Bergh had been in touch moments after the defeat.
He said: “I sit here as a pundit these days and I’ve got to not show bias, but Dimitri is someone I’m very, very close to and I’m saddened to see him like that.
“I know how meticulous he is in his preparation and how much it means to him to be at the very top of the game.
“He’s literally just messaged me a couple of minutes ago, almost saying sorry. I’ve been chatting with him and it just didn’t happen for him for one thing or another, and winning only one leg as well.”
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The two-time world champion said he could sympathise with Van den Bergh’s emotions after experiencing similar lows during his own career.
He added: “I’ve been there, so I can appreciate his emotions right now. You’re scratching your head thinking how can the game look so easy at one point and then all of a sudden everything becomes difficult.
“But I’m a big believer in character-building. This is testing him and he’s got a huge 2026 coming up now. It’s up to him to find the solutions.
“Beveridge was excellent by the way, but Dimitri needs to find solutions if he’s going to kick on from here.”
Meanwhile, Beveridge was left in disbelief after sealing one of the biggest wins of his career on his World Championship debut.
He said: “You’ve no idea, this is absolutely fantastic. I dreamed of this when I was 13 years old. I’m 33 now, so 19 years later to win games on this stage is absolutely amazing.
“He’s not been playing for a few months so it’s hard to know what to expect, but everybody knows Dimitri. He’s a previous major winner and I knew what he was capable of.
“As long as I played my game I knew I had a chance. This is one of the greatest days of my life, I can’t believe it.”
