King dismisses Veitch at the Lakeside
Tuesday, 9 January 2007Mervyn King was tonight accused of using gamesmanship by Mike Veitch, the man he beat 4-2 to reach the quarter-finals of the Lakeside World Championship in Frimley Green.
Veitch claimed he had been put off by fifth seed King shouting words of encouragement to himself when returning from retrieving his darts out of the board.
'I'm not using it as an excuse, but sometimes when I was ready to throw Mervyn would walk past me and shout,' said the Scot. 'That doesn't help. You just don't need it.'
King, a two-time runner-up in this tournament, has been involved in controversial incidents before, including when he claimed the Lakeside air conditioning had been blowing his darts off course.
But he defended his conduct and claimed Veitch should have been 'more professional'.
'I've known Mike for years and he's a great player and a great friend," said the 40-year-old from Great Yarmouth.
'It wasn't gamesmanship. I'm an aggressive player as everyone knows. I was shouting on my way to the board but certainly not on the way back.
'If he can't cope with it that's not my problem. We are all professional players - maybe he should be a bit more professional.'
Earlier, Ted Hankey found top gear at just the right time to book a quarter-final against top seed Martin Adams.
'The Count', winner of the title in 2000, made a dreadful start to his second-round match against Davy Richardson but fought back to claim a 4-3 victory.
'I just couldn't find my range in the early stages,' admitted Hankey. 'I don't know whether I got my preparation wrong but I went up there with the same attitude as for my first match on Saturday and it just didn't work.
'But I wound myself up with a bit of shouting and screaming and managed to bring it out of myself. It's all about the mind. Once I settled down I was all right and it was a great match.'
Adams was not at his best in winning 4-1 against Co Stompe but always held the upper hand and, despite a brief rally from the Dutchman in the third set, eventually progressed comfortably.
'I had to raise my game and up the ante because I didn't think I was doing enough,' said the 50-year-old from Peterborough.
