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Florian Hempel: Out in round two
Photo:
Luke Walker/Getty Images
The German darts professional Florian Hempel was the first of three Germans to drop out at the World Cup in London.
In round two he was defeated by world number five and fellow favorite Luke Humphries from England by 2:3 sets.
'Of course I'm disappointed.
I would have liked to win.
It was a broken game.
The disappointment is great," said Hempel at Sport1: "The double quota was not as good as usual.
You could feel the nervousness, millimeters decided against me today.«
In the opening win against Keegan Brown (3-2) on Friday, the DJ in Ally Pally mistakenly played "Rocket Man" by Elton John, while Hempel always runs onto the stage with "Kölsche Jung" by Brings.
This time the start was right, also on the dartboard.
Because Humphries pointed to the double nerves, Hempel got the first set.
After that, the favorite increased, winning the second and fourth sets to zero.
But Hempel, number 60 in the world rankings, stayed on and took advantage of many of the Briton's mistakes.
Only in the decisive fifth set did the favorite prevail.
With Gabriel Clemens there is at least one German in the third round.
Martin Schindler could follow on Friday, the 26-year-old will meet Brit Martin Lukeman in his opening match.
bka/sid/dpa