Van den Bergh: 'Dad picked me up from my lowest'

Dimitri Van den Bergh (Lawrence Lustig, PDC)

Dimitri Van den Bergh has revealed how his father picked him up from his lowest point in darts ahead of his William Hill World Darts Championship last 32 clash with Luke Woodhouse.

Two-time World Youth Champion Van den Bergh posted a 103.81 average, the highest of the tournament so far, in his 3-0 victory over Josh Payne on Saturday.

After picking up his first individual televised PDC knock-out win since March, Van den Bergh has opened up on how he worked to arrest his slump.

"After the European Championship in October I mentally dropped off so much that I was crying after I lost to Dave Chisnall," admitted former World Championship quarter-finalist Van den Bergh.

"It wasn't because I lost but because of the way I played and the way I felt on stage.

"After that game I called my dad, I was crying to him on the phone and he said 'Son, now is the time for you, if you want to be a big player in darts we're going to do it now.'

"He explained his vision for me and gave me a structured practice regime to help me get back on track.

"In the three days before my match with Josh he told me I was playing unbelievably well but I just didn't believe what he was saying so I was shocked with my performance on Saturday.

"I'm not going to dream too far ahead but I never thought I would be World Youth Champion and I won it back-to-back, so who knows what could happen."

The meeting between Van den Bergh and Woodhouse will feature in the afternoon session of Day 11, before the evening sees the final play before the Christmas break.

Day 11 will be broadcast live on the Sky Sports Darts channel and through NOW TV in the UK, on PDCTV-HD for Rest of the World Subscribers and through the PDC's worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and RTL7.