Darts ace Stephen Bunting left confused as rival confronts him on stage after win
Stephen Bunting was left scratching his head after being confronted by Jermaine Wattimena on stage following his win over the Dutchman at the Belgian Open
Stephen Bunting was baffled when Jermaine Wattimena gave him what for on stage after their clash at the Belgian Darts Open.
Fan favourite ‘The Bullet’ had just staged a stunning comeback from 3-0 down to book his spot in the last-16 with six straight wins.
But his victory buzz was cut short as Wattimena seemed to have a bone to pick with the world championship semi-finalist.
After nailing the winning double, Bunting turned for the usual post-match handshake only to find Wattimena giving him the cold shoulder.
The 39-year-old hung around awkwardly before grabbing his darts and settling for a handshake with the match referee instead.
Eventually, Wattimena caught up with Bunting and did shake hands, but not without having a stern word and a finger wag at the Liverpool supporter.
As Wattimena walked off, Bunting looked to the crowd, pulling a face of total bewilderment. Clearly gobsmacked, the crowd-pleaser made gestures about his opponent and shared a few words with the spectators.
When quizzed on the frosty exchange, Bunting confessed he was clueless about Wattimena’s beef. “Jermaine was telling me that I was doing something wrong,” he said, reports the Mirror.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for Jermaine, I didn’t expect that at the end of the game. I tried my best to win the game. I thought it was just a normal game, he picked up on something, I don’t know what it was.
“I’ll have a word with him backstage. There was no malice in my game, you’ve known me for many years now and I’m not that type of player to play mind games on people.”
Luke Littler would win the tournament as Luke Humphries made an unexpected exit after being bested by local lad Mike De Decker, and Michael van Gerwen was left stunned by Boris Krcmar.
Price, who turned 40 on Friday, celebrated his birthday with a win and an impressive 112.42 average against Gian van Veen, earning cheers and birthday wishes from the fans, before falling to Littler.
“Because I’m 40 now, maybe double tops will be a bit better. I still feel 20 and look 21 so happy days,” he joked post-match.
“He (van Veen) is a fantastic player and I know I need to play those sort of averages to win, so thankfully I pulled it out of the bag.”
