Latest news with #Hildesheim
The Sun
03-07-2025
- Sport
- The Sun
‘It's becoming a real issue' – Luke Littler fired career warning over ‘draining' problem
LUKE LITTLER has been warned that getting BOOED by fans could seriously harm his career. The teen sensation was heavily jeered at the World Cup of Darts in Frankfurt before suffering a shock at the hands of Germany to exit the tournament in the second round. 3 3 3 World No2 Littler was also heckled during a Premier League visit to Berlin earlier this year and received a negative reception in Hildesheim on the European Tour. Former pro Vincent van der Voort expressed concern over the way Littler is being jeered by fans abroad after witnessing it at the US Darts Masters in New York last weekend. He said: 'It's becoming a real issue, especially when you consider how long his career could be. 'He was getting booed a lot in Germany at first, but now it's spreading. I was in New York last weekend and even there, the crowd was giving him a hard time.' Five-times major winner Littler reached the quarter-final of the US Masters but was knocked out by Nathan Aspinall despite averaging 109 and thumping in six 180s. Van der Voort recalls Littler looking frustrated after the World Series event due to the heckling he faced from the Madison Square Garden crowd. He added: 'He wasn't happy at all. The truth is, he's only really popular in England – and not even everywhere there. Outside of the UK, he's getting booed pretty much everywhere now, including in the US. 'There's got to be a shift. You don't want to be travelling from tournament to tournament and feel like no one's behind you. That's draining, especially at his age.' BEST ONLINE CASINOS - TOP SITES IN THE UK Teen sensation Littler sealed a 6-1 win against Jules van Dongen in round one at the Big Apple with a spectacular 120 checkout, hitting three tops. Van der Voort pointed to Littler's on-stage showmanship and off-stage comments as reasons for the growing backlash. Being made an MBE shows I've helped 'change face of darts' says Luke Humphries He admitted: 'It's the things he says and the way he carries himself. They're not helping his cause. 'You can turn people against you quickly in this sport if you're not careful.' The Dutchman stressed the importance of Littler having the right support system. He explained: 'It's unfortunate he doesn't seem to have the right people around him — people who can guide him, help him make better decisions, and teach him what's smart and what isn't. 'That's crucial at this stage. When you're 18, you think you know it all. But you don't. Later in life, you realise your parents were right about a lot more than you gave them credit for.'
New York Times
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
On Smaller Opera Stages, Daring Art Has More Room to Breathe
Near the end of Judith Weir's opera 'Miss Fortune,' there is an uncanny duet between the main character, Tina, and her fate. Tina is sung by a soprano, and Fate by a countertenor. Although their music is similar, the difference in their vocal timbres creates an unsettling clash. At a recent production of 'Miss Fortune' that I attended at the Theater für Niedersachsen in Hildesheim, a small city in northern Germany, that scene had a memorable charge. Its strange lyricism was undercut by the humor of Tina telling her destiny to butt out as one might set boundaries with a problematic ex. It was a great operatic moment, and it played to a sparse audience in a city of just over 100,000 people. During the past season, Germany's leading opera houses — in Berlin and Munich, in Stuttgart and Hamburg — offered largely familiar though well-rendered pleasures, along with a handful of new works by marquee artists in contemporary music. But, unlike almost any other country in the world, Germany also has a large network of smaller professional opera houses that step up, offering modernist masterpieces, overlooked rarities and work from this century. (According to the German Music Information Center, the country has 83 institutions presenting opera and music theater.) In addition to the Theater für Niedersachsen, I traveled to opera houses in Darmstadt, Dessau-Rosslau, Lübeck, Magdeburg, Bielefeld and Kassel throughout the season. Although the performances were often at a lower technical level than in the country's opera capitals — the orchestral playing less polished, the singing rougher, the stagings and acting more beholden to clichés — they also showed a scene whose vitality remains unmatched, thanks to generous but increasingly precarious government funding. Germany's smaller opera houses allow up-and-coming artists to hone their craft, giving onstage experience to generations of performers. Sonja Isabel Reuter, who gave an assured interpretation of Tina in 'Miss Fortune,' is Theater für Niedersachsen's only ensemble soprano. Last season, she sang four completely different vocal roles in the space of a week: Mimi from 'La Bohème,' two different operetta characters and the solo soprano part in Dvorak's cantata 'The Specter's Bride.' Her three seasons at the house, she said in a phone interview, 'were like a crash course in how to be an opera singer.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Daily Mail
14-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Michael van Gerwen PULLS OUT of tournament and risks falling out of top 100 in competition rankings - as friend gives worrying update
Michael van Gerwen pulled out of the Players Championship 16 due to a crisis of self-belief, a friend says. The Dutchman ruled himself out of Tuesday's action in Hildesheim, Germany, which saw Ross Smith secure his sixth PDC ranking title. Van Gerwen, 36, has lost in the first round of a competition six times on this year's ProTour and apparently didn't feel up to it on this occasion. One of those shock defeats was in the Players Championship 15 on Monday, and he has now dropped to 96th in the competition's Order of Merit. At the end of the season (which includes 34 floor tournaments), the top 64 will qualify for the Players Championship Finals in Minehead. Van Gerwen risks missing out and his compatriot Vincent van der Voort has given a concerning update on his confidence. 'When I see how things are going, the belief just isn't there,' Van der Voort told the Darts Draait Door podcast. 'His presence is lacking, there's no aggression or passion in his game. 'It's just about throwing at the board and hoping for the best.' The Green Machine's slump in form means he could also miss out on the Premier League Darts finals night. He sits fourth in the rankings, one point and one place ahead of Nathan Aspinall, who will be desperate to take his spot with just two nights of the regular season left. Van Gerwen has only made it to the final of two out of 14 Premier League nights this season and was knocked out at the first time of asking by Luke Humphries in the most recent event in Leeds. He has also been told by Van der Voort that he is taking too many holidays. The Dutch star is ditching next month's World Cup of Darts in favour of a trip to Ibiza. Earlier this year, the seven-time Premier League darts winner suffered with health problems for two months after picking up an illness while on holiday in Thailand. Van der Voort told the Darts Draait Door podcast: 'Sometimes he plays really well, but then he can't keep it up. He's going to have to train hard. 'He needs to put in the effort or he'll never find consistent form again. 'You can't just take a holiday and expect things to fall back into place. It doesn't work like that.'
The Sun
13-05-2025
- Sport
- The Sun
Ross Smith hits TWO nine-darters and delivers THREE straight whitewashes to win Players Championship 16 darts
ROSS SMITH reeled off the craziest stats in Players Championship history - to clinch PC16 with TWO nine-darters and three straight whitewash wins. But the English oche ace 's verdict on his performance was even more astonishing than his figures. 3 3 No player has ever been more dominant in this tournament than Smith was in triumphing in Hildesheim, Germany. But the 36-year-old claimed: "I don't actually think I played that well!" The Kent star Smith, 36, reached World No. 9 last year and has now won six PDC rankings events. And although that's a useful pedigree, no-one could have predicted his record-breaking feats on Tuesday. Smith sealed the crown by winning 24 legs in a row. In fact four of his five opponents failed to win a single leg. And only legends Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen have ever bagged more than one nine-darter at the same Players Championship event. Smith said: 'I know I can be one of the best in the world. Consistency is a big thing, but I know I can win tournaments on a regular basis." The 2022 European champion opened with a 6-0 defeat of Dylan Slevin, then dispatched Chris Landman 6-3 in the last 16. 3 Landman briefly fought back to level at 3-3 - but from that moment Smith never lost another leg all day. He next sunk Danny Noppert 6-0 and Luke Woodhouse 7-0 in the semis. Barry Hearn reveals pool is the 'next darts' and predicts sport will be massive in five years And he demolished Brendan Dolan 6-0 in the final - with an average of 104.5. Smith polished off the Northern Irishman with legs of 14, 12, 13, 14, 12 and 14 darts. His joy in Germany means he has jumped up to World No. 14. Smith said: 'I'm so happy with the win. 'I've got the little plaques at home with the scoresheets from my Players Championship wins. They're my little trophies, and they mean a lot to me. 'I'm going to add another one to the wall today, and it's another incentive when I'm at home practising, because I want to win all the time; who doesn't? 'If you've won a major title you can win anything. I honestly believe I'm going to win more, but I need to keep working hard.' Leicester's Mattioli Arena will host the PDC's Players Championships 17 and 18 on June 17-18.
BBC News
13-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Smith throws two nine-darters before final whitewash
Ross Smith demolished Brendan Dolan 8-0 to win the 16th Players Championship of the year - having thrown two nine-darters on the way to the Smith, 36, had reached the final Hildesheim, Germany, with a scintillating run as he won 16 legs on the is just the third player, alongside Michael van Gerwen and Phil Taylor, to land multiple nine-darters in the same Players Championship final was a formality as Smith notched up an average of 104.56 and whitewashed 51-year-old Northern Irishman Dolan."I don't actually feel I've played that well - sometimes luck is on your side," Smith told the PDC."I want to win all the time. I will keep working hard to win another major event."World number one Luke Humphries, world champion Luke Littler and Van Gerwen were among the players to give the event a are 34 Players Championship events across the year, with the competition's finals held in Minehead in November.
