Nathan Aspinall turns on whistling darts crowd after beating Gerwyn Price
Darts star Nathan Aspinall was in jubilant mood following his victory over Gerwyn Price but was the latest player to complain about the whistling crowd in Riesa this weekend
Nathan Aspinall pleaded with the crowd at the International Darts Open to stop whistling following his third round victory over Gerwyn Pryce. The Asp admonished the fans in attendance in Riesa for impacting the peformance of those on stage.
Aspinall was in search of back-to-back to tournament victories on the continent after claiming his maiden European Tour win in Gottingen's Elten Safety Shoes European Darts Trophy final last month. And the Stockport native was in fine form to come from behind to beat his Welsh opponent on this occasion.
The crowd however, may have played its role too as Price appeared to be affected by the chorus of boos and whistles heading in his direction. The Iceman put himself in a prime position to move into the quarter-final before succumbing to the commotion around him.
Price took a 5-3 lead over Aspinall but missed match darts to allow his opponent to draw level, despite initially responding to the whistle as he made his way to the Oche. A 121 checkout eventually saw Aspinall prevail.
But after an emphatic celebration, Aspinall could not help but reflect on the atmosphere the crowd had created for his match. Speaking after his win, he said: “Whoever is playing, whether you don't like them or not, you have a better day when we're playing good darts.
READ MORE: Luke Humphries admits he may take break from darts in emotional statement after matchREAD MORE: Luke Littler responds to crowd jeers as darts superstar suffers shock defeat"Stop whistling because it affects the players. You pay your money to watch good darts and you're preventing good darts."
Aspinall is not the first player to have been outspoken about the crowd in Germany this weekend. Following his 6-4 win over Darius Labanauskas, Stephen Bunting also expressed his frustrations after Labanauskas was particularly targeted by whistles.
"Can we just have a few things right," said the Liverpool fan. "We are all here to enjoy the darts and have a good time. Whistling when people are throwing must stop. I know you are all here to support me.
“But come on, Darius played a fantastic game there. We need to give him all the support he can get. He has come a long way. We are all here trying to earn our money. He did not deserve that from the minority.
"Darius is a fantastic player and really good friend of mine. I feel so disappointed for him and I was just lucky to win. It’s just a few idiots in the crowd.”
Ultimately it was Bunting and Aspinall that met in the final of the competition on Sunday night. The Bullet sealed an 8-5 victory over his in-form opponent having also seen off Luke Humphries and Karel Sedlacek earlier in the day.
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