Nathan Aspinall recently had some choice words when it came to the atmosphere at the Saudi Arabia Masters and the PDC have now responded to his claims ahead of the second round
The PDC have moved to clarify the make-up of the crowd at the Saudi Arabia Darts Masters after Nathan Aspinall claimed that they were “not all there off their own accord”.
The tournament got underway yesterday with a number of prominent stars including Luke Littler, Michael van Gerwen and Luke Humphries all taking part. Another star to have flown to the Middle East to compete was Aspinall.
Speaking after beating Lourence Ilagan in his opening match, he gave his take on the atmosphere. He said: “I don’t know. There is definitely a long way to go.
“It’s certainly different. I am not stupid, I feel like they were not all there of their own accord shall we say. It was quite a small venue but you’ve got to start somewhere.
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“Everything needs to start somewhere and as long as people walk away from this week and say, ‘we really enjoyed the darts’ and the Saudi Arabian press really enjoy the darts there is no reason why not. I’ve enjoyed my time out here so far, there is worse places to be. I could be sat in Glossop in the snow, so hopefully we can be back again. “
The PDC have now responded to Aspinall and claimed that everyone in attendance was a keen spectator. A statement shared by The Telegraph read: “Nathan was reflecting on the fact that this was a first-of-its-kind darts event in the region, with many attendees experiencing live darts for the first time.
“As with any new market, the atmosphere and crowd make-up can differ from long-established darts events such as those in the UK and Europe.
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“All spectators attended as ticket holders or guests, and we were delighted to see such strong interest in the PDC’s debut in Saudi Arabia.”
Away from Aspinall’s comments, reigning world champion Littler has also spoken out and suggested that the atmosphere is far quieter than those he is used to. Speaking after beating Paul Lim, the teenager said: “It wasn’t such a loud environment. But I managed to play okay early on. A win is a win.
“It’s very different. I didn’t expect it. It’s not going to be loud. I think we need a bit of noise. We aren’t used to this. But I know what to expect on Tuesday.
“The only thing you can compare it to myself is when I competed in the WDF a few years ago. Other than that, all the other venues are dead loud – this one is very different.”
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