Wessel Nijman wins with maiden PDC ranking 1 title “I’ve felt like it was coming”
Darting star Wessel Nijman has been making gigantic waves on the PDC Pro Tour in his first full year. He is just 24-year-old Dutch player who recently achieved a big milestone in PDC. He achieved it by winning his first PDC ranking title at Players Championship 24. In the finals, Nijman faced off against Stephen Bunting and won with a score of 8-5 which was equally impressive and shocking too.
NIJMAN WINS PC24! 🏆
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) October 1, 2024
It's Wessel Nijman's night in Wigan, as the 24-year-old beats Stephen Bunting 8-5 to win his first Players Championship event!
📺 https://t.co/YyBPPwoMK8 | #PC24 pic.twitter.com/TcqL34tck6
Wessel Nijman wins
Nijman did very well by taking lead early in the match, which was going up 7-2. However, things got a bit tense when Bunting began to fight back and it was quite hard to be frank he was about to close the gap to 7-5. Like a diamond under pressure he also stayed quite under pressure and secured the final leg to claim the title. He commented on his win and Nijman said, “I’ve felt like it was coming.” He also explained that he had been very patient and he firmly believed that for sure his hard work would pay off.
[PDC Update]
— Cosmo Darts Global (@CosmoDartsInt) October 2, 2024
WOW!!!!!!!!!!🧨
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!🧨
WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!!! 🧨🧨💥💥
It's amazing!!!! The young Wessel Nijman has won his first PDC Event!!! @WesselNijman180
Congratulations to Wessel for winning Players Championship 24!!!! 😊🕺🕺#CosmoDarts #FitFlight #darts #PDC pic.twitter.com/ogmggBb3wR
If you talk about this year early, Nijman had been performing quite well, regularly hitting high scores, including 100-point averages as per the score cards. However, despite his strong performances, he felt unlucky, as he lost some close games as well. Over time, he started to hit his stride.
If you see carefully Nijman’s return to the spotlight is even more remarkable given the challenges he has faced. Early Back in 2020, he was suspended for two and a half years for match-fixing. A decision he admitted was fair judgement. After serving his suspension, Nijman worked hard to get back to the top level of darts. As per his comment the few recent months have been some of the best of his career. And he is feeling good about it.
Last year, while playing on the Development Tour, he didn’t even expect to earn a Tour Card. which allows players to compete on the Pro Tour. Yet, he not only received the card, but he’s also now winning tournaments which is quite good to see for him and his fans.
Thanks to this incredible win as this win made Nijman climbed to 67th in the world rankings. This must be taken as a huge achievement for someone in his first year back at this level. Nijman said that when he reached the final of the tournament, he had the feeling that he will surely win. He wanted to break into the top 64 players in the world after two years on tour. But luckily after just one year he’s already seem to be on track to achieve that dream.
