‘I’m a World Darts Championship star who was banned for match-fixing, it was the worst time of my life’

WESSEL NIJMAN is hoping lessons will be learned from his "stupid" match-fixing mistake - as he makes the most of his second chance.

In October 2020, the Dutchman was hit with a five-year ban after being found guilty of fixing a match in Covid during the amateur Modus Icons of Darts at Home series.

• Follow all the action from the World Darts Championship as it happens with SunSport's LIVE blog

Someone from "a weird Instagram account" contacted him via a friend "to earn some easy money" and he agreed to NOT win any legs - he lost 4-0 - for the sum of £8,300.

But two-and-a-half years of the ban was suspended on the condition that Nijman, who expressed "early and full admission of guilt", engaged in player education and anti-corruption measures.

Nijman - who paid £2,455.74 towards the costs of the hearing - was free to play from February 2023 and the electrician is appearing in his second game on the Ally Pally stage.

The world No.  58 is a full-time sparky and leaned on his work during his enforced time off.

He said: "It was one of the worst times of my life. But in the end, I got my life rolling again.

"I started working. Then the ban was nearly over. I tried my luck on the PDC Development Tour. Now we are here.

"The lowest point was when I told family and friends what I did. Then you get all the DRA [Darts Regulation Authority] stuff. It takes really long.

"You have hearings. Dutch police got involved. So, when it got out, we had already known about it for a few months.

BEST FREE BET SIGN UP OFFERS FOR UK BOOKMAKERS

"I don’t concern myself about what people say about me.

";The people who say s**t things about me don’t know me and I don’t know them.

"The people who I know and love me were the ones who supported me and are still supporting me right now.

"It’s more like I have nothing to lose right now. It was still a stupid thing to do. I don’t want to talk good about it.

"I hope no one else does the same. We see some players make the same mistake. It’s a very valuable lesson for everyone.

"The s**t thing is I was the only paying for it."

Nijman, whose mum is a close presence at darts events, was the joint-seventh pre-tournament favourite at 28-1.

He starts his World Championship bid this afternoon against South African qualifier Cameron Carolissen, with the winner taking on No. 23 seed Joe Cullen on Sunday.