ITV were left with egg on their face just seconds into their World Masters coverage on Thursday evening after an awkward blunder involving one of their presenters. It occurred ahead of the first big tournament on the darting calendar, with the world’s best descending on Milton Keynes for the event.
But it also represented the first big outing for ITV’s new darts pundits, who were ushered in earlier this year. Among the line-up is former Sky Sports anchor, Pete Graves, who recorded a short piece to camera for the introduction to the opening night of action.
The only problem being, the on-screen graphic had instead spelt his name as ‘Pete Greaves’. Not the ideal start to proceedings, not least because Graves had expressed his excitement about taking the reins prior to the event kicking off.
Posting on X, the experienced broadcaster said: “A new era begins tonight… I’m presenting the darts live for @OfficialPDC. The Winmau World Masters is live on ITV4 from 7pm and streamed live on ITVX and PDCTV. All the big names in action. Tune in!”
As for the action at least, Michael van Gerwen was the biggest casualty from night one. After a dismal World Championship campaign, the Dutchman was defeated by Damon Heta in his first match at the World Masters. By no means an easy tie for the three-time world champion, but it represents another headache for Van Gerwen.
There were no such worries for countryman Gian van Veen, who navigated a potentially tricky test against Ryan Joyce. Nathan Aspinall, Chris Dobey and Gary Anderson all progressed into round two, with the latter not holding back during his post-match debrief.
Taking aim at social media influencers trying their hand at the sport, Anderson remarked: « I don’t [watch] YouTube, but I’m watching – what do you call them? – influencers. ‘How to play darts’ – I’ve never seen the bloke in my life. I’ve watched him play darts, he’s absolutely rank at it, so why watch him?
« Who is he? They’re actually pros and they actually know about darts, do they? It’s a load of rubbish. So for young kids, it ain’t good. Kids need to learn they can go buy a set of darts that cost you 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 quid, instead of spending hundreds of pounds on darts, and play the game. Just let them play darts and enjoy it. Buy a £20 set of darts and go and enjoy your game of darts. End of, easy. »
Source link
