Van der Voort apologises for confronting referee following World Matchplay defeat

Vincent van der Voort has issued an apology to referee Kirk Bevins following an angry outburst at the conclusion of his Quarter-Final match against Glen Durrant on Friday.

Van der Voort was beaten 18-16 by Durrant in a tense tie break and his emotions spilled over at the end of the match following an earlier incident which saw Bevins disallow a dart by the Dutchman due to an underarm throw.

The foul occurred in the 22nd leg with Van der Voort, leading 12-9, having gone inside on double nine before releasing his final dart underarm in a manner of frustration.

Official rules state that “all darts must be deliberately thrown in an overarm fashion” and Bevins immediately declared the foul and the reasoning behind the call.

Durrant went on to win the leg before completing the comeback to reach his second successive Betfred World Matchplay Semi-Final.

Van der Voort vented his anger towards referee Bevins, pointing and exchanging words before departing the stage at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.

He took to Twitter the following morning to issue an apology to Bevins and wish Durrant well for his Semi-Final against Dimitri van den Bergh.

“Having seen footage and spoken to people I need to apologise to Kirk the referee as I thought he complained that I stepped over the oche and this is why I reacted at end of the game,” Van der Voort tweeted.

“He actually complained that I threw the dart not correctly, which I now know.

“Also to Glen, he took advantage of my fall of concentration with the incident allowing him back into the game, for that he did well and best of luck in today’s game to him.”

Durrant is now bidding to reach his first PDC major final, while the other Semi-Final sees 2018 World Matchplay champion Gary Anderson take on 2019 runner-up Michael Smith.

WATCH WORLD MATCHPLAY DARTS STREAMED LIVE HERE (18+)

? John Part gives his reaction to Vincent van der Voort's emotions at the end of his quarter-final against Glen Durrant.

✍️ Live blog: https://t.co/y1Fro9aC1D
? Watch on Sky Sports Action pic.twitter.com/YGNaRySRre

— Sky Sports Darts (@SkySportsDarts) July 24, 2020

It was an underarm throw. Nothing to do with stepping on the oche. I even announced over the microphone it was an underarm throw and then you see me explaining it to Vincent afterwards.

— Kirk Bevins (@KirkBevins180) July 24, 2020