REIGNING CHAMPION Gerwyn Price has asked for a postponement of the William Hill World Darts Championship due to coronavirus problems obscuring the event.
The latest player to test positive for the virus was Dave Chisnall, he has now been forced to withdraw from the tournament
Michael van Gerwen and Vincent van der Voort have also left the tournament for the same reason.
Price, who is the World champion wrote on his Instagram Story:
“Tournament needs to be postponed”.
He later added in a second post:
“I’ve been in their position so I feel for the players that have had to withdraw, there’s a lot of hard work gone into getting events like the World Championships on so postponing probably isn’t the best option but an option I wouldn’t disagree with, time to keep myself safe and out of touch…keep safe all”.
The Welshman Price, the world number one, is due to play Dirk van Duijvenbode in a fourth-round match on Wednesday evening.
Chisnall was due to play Luke Humphries in the last-32 on Wednesday, with Humphries now receiving a bye.
A statement from the PDC read: “Dave Chisnall has withdrawn from the William Hill World Darts Championship after testing positive for Covid-19 ahead of his match with Luke Humphries.
“Humphries will receive a bye to the last 16 and Wednesday afternoon’s session will continue with two matches.”
“Jose de Sousa will play Alan Soutar, and Nathan Aspinall then plays Callan Rydz.”
🎯 MASSIVE BREAKING NEWS!
Michael van Gerwen tests positive for Covid-19 and is ruled out of the World Championship.
Chris Dobey receives a bye to the Last 16. pic.twitter.com/fXd8SUxHw4— Darts News (@DartsNewsInfo) December 28, 2021
