'There's no oche, just a sticker on the floor', PDC hit back at Wattimena comments over practice facilities in Blackpool

World No.30 Jermaine Wattimena has come out and bashed the PDC regarding a lack of practice facilities at the World Matchplay.

Despite producing one of the shocks of the tournament on Sunday night, knocking out former World Champion Peter Wright. The Dutchman criticized the limited availability of dartboards up in Blackpool, questioning why players have not been given more suitable conditions to warm up.

“You’re not allowed to throw in here, and the hotels don’t have practice boards either. It’s not very well organised by the PDC”.

Wattimena admitted he is one of the lucky ones, with his hotel having a dartboard. “There’s no oche, just a sticker on the floor,” he said. “But yeah, what can you do with that? On the Euro Tour, it’s sorted — there you have proper boards to practise on. But not here.”

In response the PDC have now issued a statement justifying its position and defending the set up. “We provide six practice boards across two separate rooms which are available to players ahead of and during sessions in which they are playing, and at specified times on days when they are not competing”.

The PDC also addressed the issue of hotel-based facilities for the week, explaining that the nature of player accommodation in Blackpool means practice set ups are not feasible.

“Due to the nature of Blackpool with players staying across multiple different accommodation, we do not provide practice boards at hotels, and we have not done so for many years.

“These details were communicated clearly to all players in advance of the event”.

Wattimena faces reigning World Champion Luke Littler in the second round on Tuesday night. A tough game where he will be hoping to pick up his first win against the Nuke after losing all four of their previous meetings. Littler threw an impressive 108.92 average in the first round beating Ryan Searle 10-2, meaning Wattimena will have to be at his very best if he is to progress to round three.