Dimitri Van den Bergh has hailed the progress made in Belgian junior darts since he visited Gibraltar in 2019 and was shocked to see his nation was not represented at the JDC World Cup.
Last week, Belgium fielded two teams in the World Cup, with the A team winning their group and advancing to the knockout stage, where they lost in a thriller against eventual runners-up Netherlands B.
This followed 13-year-old Lex Paeshuyse booking his spot on the big stage at Alexandra Palace for this month’s Holiday Inn Express Junior World Darts Final.
It comes on the back of both Van den Bergh and Mike De Decker winning PDC majors in 2024, confirming Belgium’s status as one of the world’s elite darting nations.
“It’s amazing to see how the progress in Belgium has developed to what it is now,” said Van den Bergh.
“One of the very first times I went to Gibraltar, it was the year Adam Gawlas got to the final [2019]. I was seeing all the youngsters from around the world playing against each other, but I didn’t see a Belgium team.
“So when I saw that I thought ‘next year, I’ve got to change that up.’ The year after, I got four young players and I took all the expenses and said ‘this team is going to go’. Since then, Steve Brown made me JDC ambassador for Belgium and that’s a massive honour because the youth is so important.
“And now it’s amazing to see there are two Belgium teams in Gibraltar. I love that we’ve got the future in mind and a lot of good people working behind the scenes to give them what we didn’t have when I was a youth.
“I can only say thank you to Nick Cambre, who’s one of those who works every hard behind the scenes, and as a JDC ambassador I take it very seriously.”
And Van den Bergh hopes Belgian youngsters can draw inspiration not only from him and De Decker winning PDC majors but from seeing 17-year-old Luke Littler doing the same.
“Personally, I just want to be a good example for them,” he said. “I’m the bigger brother of the four in my family, so I always wanted to be a good example for my three younger brothers, and I’m a dad now so I want to be a good example for my daughter.
“That’s also the case in the darts – if young players from all over the world, not just Belgium, can look at me and and think I’m a good role model then that is fantastic.
“For the youth, there’s also Luke Littler, and I’m sure young Belgians are looking now and seeing that not only are Belgians winning majors but there’s also a young guy like them winning them too.”
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