German ace Jochen Graudenz has issued a warning to young darts players after claiming "70 per cent of players are alcoholics."
The 43-year-old, who plays on the Challenge Tour, is currently ranked 181st in the PDC Challenger Order of Merit. In the past, Graudenz has also achieved success on the Swiss Darts Corporation Tour too.
Recently in an interview with dartsnews.de, the German claimed the sport of darts has a problem with drinking, with a host of players embracing alcohol to improve their performances at the oche.
So important is the alcohol to these players, Graudenz even revealed he knew one PDC player who drank so much that he received cirrhosis, which forced him to stop drinking.
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But, as a result of giving up alcohol, the player in question began to drop down the Order of Merit rankings, which eventually led to him "drinking again".
Graudenz himself does not touch alcohol at all. He refuses to drink both on the tour and in his private life for fear of the damage it could do to his family life.
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However, that has not stopped the German from claiming that darts is an unfair sport because of the nerve settling advantage alcohol gives to players who drink.
"Darts is a unfair sport", Graudenz said.
"If you want to reach the top you have 70 percent of the top stars who are alcoholics. I played the youth national team and fortunately it 'clicked' for me. My health and my family are among the most important things to me."
"Darts is 95 per cent head. When you play at home in your familiar environment you play great darts. When you go to a tournament you probably don't play great darts anymore because: 'Everything is strange here, I'm nervous, I'm playing against someone…'. And what's the best way to solve that problem? By just getting drunk. And I absolutely can't deal with that."
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