Joe Cullen has responded with fury after being dumped out of the World Darts Championship by Mensur Suljovic, saying the Austrian’s behaviour on stage is “not darts”.
Cullen was visibly sad with Suljovic’s tempo of play and celebrations all through the match because the 53-year-old got here from a set right down to beat the Bradford arrowsmith 3-1 of their second-round conflict at Alexandra Palace on Sunday afternoon.
Suljovic triumphed regardless of averaging 81.95 to Cullen’s 86.53 and ‘The Light’ additionally solely hit 23.7 per cent of his darts at double, to 44.4 per cent from Cullen.
‘The Rockstar’ was sad with the size of time his opponent was taking to get better his darts, and the time he was taking to have fun, with referee Kirk Bevans even pressured to intervene.
As Cullen left the stage, he stopped, turned and gave Suljovic a tough stare as the previous World Matchplay runner-up celebrated with the gang.
Cullen, the thirty second seed, made his displeasure clear, taking to X to put in writing: “If that is darts, I do not need no a part of it! All the time favored Mensur away from the board however that was plain for all to see!
“I don’t think I’m alone in feeling this way. The old guard will say it’s part of the game but word it how you will – it’s CHEATING! That’s not darts.”
Veteran Suljovic mentioned he had not apologised to Cullen following their match throughout his press convention.
“I say sorry, maybe, to the referee maybe, but for Joe Cullen? Never. ‘You play this, you play this’, everybody plays different,” mentioned the Austrian.
“I wait maybe 40 seconds before first dart, but some guys (gestures throwing motion) and my head (gestures almost being hit in the head by a dart). This is not okay.”
Durrant: He did not break any guidelines
Earlier than Cullen left the Ally Pally stage, he gave Suljovic an extended stare
Three-time Lakeside champion and former Premier League champion Glen Durrant mentioned Suljovic didn’t break any guidelines and acknowledged how he used “gamesmanship” to allow him to defeat the fast-flowing Cullen.
Durrant mentioned: what Mensur Suljovic goes to do and we attempt to painting that on the commentary as properly. He can go from being very sluggish to taking part in in a short time and perhaps he noticed like a chink within the armour of Joe Cullen.
“I did see throughout that match that Joe [Cullen] kept his temperament brilliantly well and I can understand both sides. Sometimes we do go on social media just maybe too much in the moments.
“He did not break any guidelines – there have been no guidelines damaged. The referees spoke to Mensur throughout it, over a problem, handled that completely properly.
“The bottom line is Joe Cullen had three set darts in that third set. He was winning sets with a 79 average – that should be upsetting Joe Cullen more than what – at times – he’s labelled the gamesmanship side of it.”
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Suljovic appeared to get a telling off from referee Kirk Bevins for taking too lengthy together with his celebrations…
In the meantime, Dan Dawson mirrored on Cullen’s frustrations in defeat, saying: “He wasn’t playing particularly well but he also allowed Mensur to get away with some really average stuff and you could see by the end the frustrations telling.
“Mensur has damaged Joe Cullen’s mind in that one. He could not cease Mensur on the finish.”
Suljovic’s manager declined to respond to Cullen’s social media post when contacted by Sky Sports News.
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