By James van der Dol
For so long Phil Taylor was the only man in darts, few could get close to the man that helped revolutionised the sport and bring it into a new age. However, his crown has been snatched ruthlessly in recent years by the young man from the Netherlands, Michael Van Gerwen.
Van Gerwen has set the world alight, breaking all sorts of records and beating anyone that lay in his path. At the age of just 24, he beat Peter Wright to become the youngest PDC World Champion and become number one in the world. Although this was his last World Championship, 2016 has been a record breaking year for the Dutchman and the real question is, can anyone stop him?
For the last two years Scotland has produced some of the finest darting talent we have seen. Both Gary Anderson and Peter Wright have been at the very top of their game. Anderson winning the world title back-to-back in 2015 and 2016. Wright has won multiple other titles and been runner up in the UK Open. Both have stopped Van Gerwen before and will have to do it once more, if they want to win the World Championship in 2017.
No darting argument would be complete without mentioning Phil Taylor and Raymond Van Barneveld. Since Van Barneveld’s move from the BDO in 2006, he and Taylor have been competing for the top spot in the world. More often than not Taylor has come out on top, but the two will surely prove a big test for Van Gerwen, if they were to meet each other at some point in the competition. Despite both players not performing at their best in 2016, they have good head-to-head records against Van Gerwen and have made him falter on the big stage before.
Embed from Getty ImagesA dark horse in this year’s World Championship is Adrian Lewis. The man from Stoke-on-Trent has not been in the greatest form in 2016, but always seems to bring his best to the World Championship at the Alexandra Palace. With his high averages and fantastic doubling, he could really pose a threat to the rest of the field, especially Van Gerwen once the Championship starts on 15th December.
extratime.sport.blog 