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Wayne Mardle heaps praise on Raymond van Barneveld after he sealed victory in style

Image: Raymond van Barneveld: Recaptured his vintage form

Wayne Mardle believes that Raymond van Barneveld conquered his World Championship doubts during a ‘brilliant’ first round win over Rowby-John Rodriguez.

The Dutchman, who took the title in 2007, showed glimpses of his vintage form during a 3-0 victory over the outgunned Rodriguez at Alexandra Palace.

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Raymond van Barneveld hits a maximum checkout to seal victory over Rowby-John Rodriguez at the World Darts Championship.

Fitness problems and inconsistent form have seen ‘Barney’ slip to 14th in the seedings and he only reached the third round in last year’s tournament.

But Mardle feels the 47-year-old will have taken plenty of confidence from his performance, which saw him take out 167 before closing the match with a superb 170 checkout.

“Well 167, 170, in the same set, but what was so pleasing from a viewer was he started off so poorly and he got better and better,” said the Sky Sports pundit.

“Sometimes he can start beating himself up. The first set average was 83, the next set average was 105, then the last set was a 125 average - and you see there 50 per cent on doubles.

“He was doing everything right and I’ve got to admit I did feel for Rowby-John, it just didn’t happen for him.”

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Van Barneveld recorded the second highest average in the opening matches and Mardle expects him to pose a threat to any of the remaining players.

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Raymond van Barneveld hit a final set average of 125.25 to wrap up a stunning opening match victory at the World Darts Championship.

“It was just a brilliant performance,” he said. “Barney and the head shakers – as we say - that was happening in the first set, but he won it and he’s overcome that obstacle, because that was a potential banana skin.

“He’s now up and running. It’s going to look good for round two, there’s going to be some cracking matches.”

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