Ricardo Pietreczko breaks golden rule at World Grand Prix Darts and realises instantly
Ricardo Pietreczko suffered a sharp moment of embarrassment in his opening match at the darts World Grand Prix against Raymond van Barneveld, quickly realising the error of his ways
Ricardo Pietreczko was forced to laugh off a crucial error at the World Grand Prix of darts.
The 29-year-old German stepped up to the oche to face six-time PDC event winner Raymond van Barneveld in Leicester on Monday, and it appears that the pressure of the prestigious tournament got to his head right from the off. Already one set ahead of his fellow pro, Pietreczko opened up the second leg of the second set with a treble 20 - showing incredible precision.
And while the landing would have sat well at any other point in the competition, the pro broke one of the tournament's golden rules in doing so. That's because players have to engage a double start with their opening dart, hitting a double or the bullseye.
A video shared to social media shows the youngster walking away from the line, scratching his head with a frustrated look on his face - as the commentator said: "He's forgotten...There we go, it's ages since that happened! Congratulations Ricardo Pietreczko, he's forgotten it's double start."
Players also only start accruing points once they've hit a double, so Pietrezcko's following pair of 19s landed him with a nil score after three thrown. While he lost the set, the player dubbed 'Pikachu' managed to win the final game, despite controversially busting on 81.
He ultimately sealed the deal with a double-top finish to win 2-1, sending Van Barneveld packing from the competition. Pietreczko faces stiff competition in the quarter-finals of the World Grand Prix, tasked with an incredibly challenging task against PDC world no.1 'Cool Hand' Luke Humphries.
Humphries secured his spot in the next round after a 2-1 grilling over Stephen Bunting, having beaten the same player in the finals of the Players Championship 26 last week - a tournament in which he was initially going to withdraw from had it not been for a quick pep talk from his fiancee.
Elsewhere in the current competition, Luke Littler bowed out after a 2-1 loss to Rob Cross, Nathan Aspinall bested Ryan Searle, and Ryan Joyce defeated Josh Rock 2-0. Dave Chisnall, Damon Heta, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith and Michael van Gerwen all take to the oche later today.
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