There was a moment of on-stage friction before Peter Wright suffered an early exit from the Belgian Darts Open at the weekend.
The reigning world champion began his campaign with a second-round tie against Dutch player Niels Zonneveld, who had never previously reached the final day of a European Tour event. After leading 4-2 at one stage, Snakebite lost three legs in a row before winning the 10th to take the match into a decider.
Often before the decisive leg in a match, players fist bump and Zonneveld put his hand out to Wright, only to be left hanging by the focused 52-year-old, who has recently returned to action after undergoing surgery for gallstones.
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The snub left Zonneveld looking nonplussed in the direction of the crowd in Wieze, but he had the final say by winning the leg and reaching the third round.
On commentary, PDC broadcaster Dan Dawson said: “I’m just trying to figure out if there’s any sort of antipathy towards Peter Wright here.”
On seeing the reply of Wright’s snub, Dawson added: “Oh I see, that’s what it’s about. Well, you know what, you don’t have to bump fists. And if you want to focus on your own game, I’ve got no problem with that but you are going to have players that don’t like it and they’ll take offence.”
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However, there is no bad blood between the pair, who had a chat about the incident after the match.
“I don't want to call it an incident,” Zonneveld told 433 Darts. “After the match, I talked it out with Peter. He said he didn't give a fist bump to not be taken out of his game, with that it's done.”
Zonneveld went on to lose to Andrew Gilding in the third round. Meanwhile, Wright has turned his attention to the World Grand Prix, which begins on Monday, with Snakebite facing Kim Huybrechts in the first round on the opening night.
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