Daryl Gurney's 6-1 victory over Polish qualifier Dawid Robak at the Poland Darts Open was overshadowed by a bizarre incident during his post-match interview. As Gurney spoke with PDC Europe presenter Philip Brzezinski, an iPhone was suddenly thrown onto the stage, startling both men. Gurney broke the tension with a joke, saying, "I think you have a phone call," before Brzezinski confirmed to the crowd that a phone had been thrown. The interview resumed normally after the interruption.
On the darts front, Gurney secured a comfortable win in his opening match, despite missing plenty of doubles, against Robak, who was making his Euro Tour debut. The Northern Irishman now faces a tougher assignment in the second round against Ross Smith. Gurney acknowledged Smith's recent struggles, noting, "I think Ross, last year, with the tragedy of his mother, I feel like that affected his darts," but added that Smith is bouncing back, citing his performance against Jimmy van Schie at the World Masters.
Gurney praised Smith as a future force in the sport, stating, "I feel like he will be a really big force to be reckoned with in the PDC. He deserves to be in the top 16." However, he expressed hope that his compliments wouldn't backfire, saying, "Hopefully I don't give him too many compliments and he thinks, 'Oh, this is going to be easy, Daryl is waxing this.'" Gurney aims to raise his level for the clash in Krakow, drawing on a strong past season that included quarterfinal runs at the European Championship and Players Championship Finals, plus winning the World Cup of Darts for Northern Ireland with Josh Rock.
