Gerwyn Price crashes out of World Championships after donning ear defenders to block out crowd abuse
World number one Gerwyn Price’s bizarre attempts to block out the raucous Alexandra Palace crowd by wearing ear defenders failed to have the desired effect as he crashed out of the PDC World Championships.
The 37-year-old Welshman was 3-1 down in his quarter-final to Gabriel Clemens when he donned the accessory in an apparent move to dampen the noise coming from off stage.
But it did not prevent him from losing the fifth set and when he returned to the stage wearing less-bulky ear plugs, which he had apparently spent some time practising in, the outcome was the same as Clemens sealed a 5-1 win to become the first German to reach the last four of the competition.
“I played my game, just focussed on my game,” Price told Sky Sports after his defeat when asked about the ear defenders.
Vulnerability
Three-time World Championship runner-up Wayne Mardle said Price’s actions were those of a man showing vulnerability.
“The situation with Price is that he has had his ear defenders with him prior to this game and it was something he was thinking of doing,” he told Sky Sports.
“It shows there is a bit of frailty there. I get why he did it, he wanted to put on an elaborate show.”
It is not the first controversy Price has been involved in during the championships as Sky Sports had to apologise to viewers earlier this week after he made a gesture which could have been construed as offensive to disabled people during his victory over Jose de Sousa.
After his upset Price wrote on his Instagram story: “So frustrating you play all year round preparing for this one tournament. So gutted I wasn’t let play but good luck everyone left in.
“Not sure I will ever play in this event again.”
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I would not blame gerwyn if he didn’t play in that tournament again The Way the English crowd was boing him was disgusting it’s no wonder that the English are the most hated people in the world
Exactly. The cheating English at their best yet again. They could not fight fair if they tried. The officials at the event should have stopped this immediately and threatened to evict the guilty people.
Yet Gerwyn was playing Gabriel Clemens who is German not English,how come Jonny Clayton never gets any hostility from English crowds
Johnny Clayton was getting screamed and shouted All the time get your facts right
Would it have been too much trouble to explain what the sport in question was? I have no idea who this bloke is or what he does, and your article has told me nothing.
Darts. PDC, as seen in the picture, stands for Professional Darts Corporation.