sport

Barney battles into quarters

Raymond van Barneveld progressed to the quarter-finals of the European Championships with a nail-biting 10-9 win over Michael van Gerwen.

Both players finished with four breaks of throw and Van Gerwen even posted a higher average of 103.86 to Barney's 102.25 but the latter prevailed in the deciding leg, defending his throw with a 14-darter.

Van Gerwen made a blistering start with an 11-darter to break at the first opportunity but the elder statesman responded with a break of his own and would not trail again.

Van Barneveld told the PDC website: "I was an exciting game and Michael played awesome darts.

"He started brilliantly and I just had to try and keep my own throw all the way through the game and not let him break me.

"He's in great form, and it's not very often anyone will lose a game with a 103 average. I almost gave it away to him when I missed the four darts to win 10-7, but the 180 in the final leg really helped me."

Update:

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