Mike De Decker has hit back and revealed he is only playing himself after receiving horrific online abuse from Belgian fans following the World Cup of Darts.
De Decker, 29, the reigning World Grand Prix champion, returned to Leicester on Tuesday defending his first-ever major title and he ended up getting the job done, progressing through to the next round with a 2-1 win against an out-of-form Peter Wright.
Although De Decker went on to express his delight about making it into the last 16 and the support he had from the crowd inside the Mattioli Arena, he made a point about the abhorrent abuse he got after losing while representing Belgium in June.
De Decker and compatriot Dimitri Van den Bergh lost to the Philippines duo Lourence Ilagan and Paolo Nebrida in a winner-takes-all group game at the World Cup in Frankfurt, Germany, prompting supporters to fire horrendous abuse at the Belgian pair.
Speaking in his post-match press conference on Tuesday night, an impassioned De Decker said: “After we lost in the World Cup, we lost in the group stages and the abuse and the hate I got from losing that made me realise that I’m not playing for my country, I’m playing for myself.
“From Belgium and from people that I see every week. When you lose a game, they will bury you. After that I said I’m not playing for my country, I’m playing for myself.”
“The abuse I got people wishing me to die or get an awful disease,” De Decker added. “It’s just been ridiculous and it’s not only me, everyone gets it. And that’s what I mean by losing at the World Cup. I got the same crap from people out of Belgium and that’s why I’m just playing for myself now and not anymore for my country.”
With Van den Bergh dropping down to 21st in the world, De Decker, who is ranked 20th, is now Belgium’s leading arrowsmith but that doesn’t bother him. “So no, it’s not that I’m number one of Belgium now,” he added. “It doesn’t really bother me anymore.”
De Decker trailed 1-0 to two-time world champion Wright going into the first break, but ‘the Real Deal’ bounced back to win the second set 3-1 and then the third by the same scoreline to progress into the next round and set up a mouthwatering tie against Luke Littler.
Delivering his reaction to his performance, De Decker said: “It was a shaky start. After the first break I got going, played well in the second and third sets, and got the job done.”
“It took me a while to find my rhythm,” he continued. “I felt the pressure of defending my title — that’s new for me, and honestly, I was really nervous.
“I was here five hours early just to relax. But when they told me I had two minutes before walking on, the nerves hit again. Then you’ve got people shouting, asking for photos and autographs — it’s amazing, but intense too.”