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'Matter of time before Mike De Decker becomes the Belgian number one in the world rankings' - Erik Clarys sees darting shift coming

Originally posted on Dartsnews.com | By Samuel Gill | Last updated Mar 11, 2025 2:38 PM ET

Joy and sorrow for Belgium at the Belgian Darts Open. Mike De Decker reached the final in front of his home crowd, but Dimitri Van den Bergh disappointed and lost immediately in his opening match. Erik Clarys already enjoyed the tournament at home.

De Decker narrowly survived his opening match against Thomas Lovely, but then only got better and eventually reached the final. In it, he lost 8-5 to Luke Littler. "De Decker played a strong tournament. With some matchdarts he was maybe a bit lucky, but in general he threw fantastic," Erik Clarys, himself a former dart player and currently active as a co-commentator at VTM 2, told Sporza.

"He is enjoying playing and doing so with a packed schedule. Sunday he had to play as many as four games. Mentally that weighs down."

In the final against Littler, De Decker looked a little tired and a shock was not in the cards. "I didn't believe in that either," Clarys said. "With his first nine darts, Littler kills his opponent. And if you open strong yourself, he plays better anyway."

Van den Bergh

De Decker was sung loudly by the fans at the Oktoberhallen in Wieze. "He was carried by his fans and that gave him wings. With De Decker that's working very positively at the moment, not so with Van den Bergh. You saw him struggling, he felt a lot of pressure to perform at home."

Decker seems to handle that pressure much better. "He feels like a fish out of water on stage, for Van den Bergh darts has become work," Clarys said. "The traveling plays tricks on him, as a father he gets harder to leave the heimat for a tournament. He didn't get his arrows framed either. That has to do with self-confidence. A year and a half ago he could still turn the knob, now he seems to be in a vicious circle."

Van den Bergh was the unthreatened Belgian number one in the world rankings for a long time, but is now only two places (Van den Bergh 19th, De Decker 21st) ahead of Decker in the world rankings. "Mike is in a positive flow. It's a matter of time before De Decker takes over the torch as Belgian No. 1. That's how I feel anyway. Decker is throwing much purer at the moment, while Van den Bergh is literally letting his shoulders hang a bit. He's fighting against himself."

World Cup of Darts

In about three months, Van den Bergh and De Decker will compete together for Belgium at the World Cup of Darts. "They form a new duo there. Curious to see if the chemistry is as great as between Van den Bergh and Huybrechts. They threw ironclad as a team," Clarys said.

Belgium starts the tournament as one of the outsiders, the top favorite for the title is England, with Luke Humphries in its ranks in addition to Littler. "I'm already holding my heart," laughed Clarys. "Luke and Luke are an even more punishing duo than Luke Humphries and Michael Smith. And they were already unbeatable."

This article first appeared on Dartsnews.com and was syndicated with permission.

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