Stephen Bunting clashes with darts rival on stage: “I’ll have a word with him”

Stephen Bunting defeated Jermaine Wattimena at the Belgian Open on Saturday afternoon but caught a frosty dressing down from his opponent on stage following their second round clash

Stephen Bunting was left perplexed as Jermaine Wattimena confronted him on stage following their match at the Belgian Open.

Bunting came back from 3-0 behind to secure a place in the last-16 after winning six legs in a row. ‘The Bullet’ soon found his celebrations tempered however as Wattimena appeared to give the world championship semi finalist a dressing down.

After hitting the winning double, Bunting turned and prepared for a post-match greeting from his opponent but found nobody waiting. Wattimena instead had his back turned as the 39-year-old lingered before giving up, collecting his darts and sharing handshakes with the match referee instead.

Wattimena soon followed Bunting’s path and eventually clasped hands with the victor but not without giving the Liverpool fan a piece of his mind. A tap on the back and a handshake was accompanied by some frosty words from the Dutchman who wagged his finger at Bunting.

As Wattimena departed, Bunting appeared to turn to the crowd and pulled his face in confusion. Clearly taken a back, the fan-favourite gestured towards his opponent and said something to the audience.

Asked about the interaction, Bunting admitted he was none the wiser to Wattimena’s issue. “Jermaine was telling me that I was doing something wrong,” he revealed.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for Jermaine, I didn’t expect that at the end of the game. I tried my best to win the game. I thought it was just a normal game, he picked up on something, I don’t know what it was.

“I’ll have a word with him backstage. There was no malice in my game, you’ve known me for many years now and I’m not that type of player to play mind games on people.”

Bunting moves on to face Daryl Gurney, who defeated Danny Noppert 6-2, for a place in the quarter-finals. The likes of James Wade and Gerwyn Price remain in the competition, as does reigning champion Luke Littler. World number one Luke Humphries crashed out of the tournament after losing to home favourite Mike De Decker, and Michael van Gerwen suffered a shock defeat to Boris Krcmar

Price averaged 112.42 in his win over Gian van Veen, as he received happy birthday wishes from the crowd after turning 40 on Friday. “Because I’m 40 now, maybe double tops will be a bit better. I still feel 20 and look 21 so happy days,” he said.

“He (van Veen) is a fantastic player and I know I need to play those sort of averages to win, so thankfully I pulled it out of the bag.”

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