Martin Schindler narrowly missed a big surprise at the Darts World Championships in London and still lost against last year's English finalist Michael Smith. The 26-year-old, nicknamed 'The Wall', missed a 3-1 lead at Alexandra Palace and was defeated 3-4 in a thrilling match.

"Bully Boy" Smith is one of the big tournament favorites and will now face compatriot Joe Cullen in the round of 16. In the evening he clearly won 4:0 against the Australian Damon Heta.

"It's mixed feelings. Somewhere I'm happy to play what I can. But I didn't cross the finish line. It was a good game, I was very dominant at times," said Schindler after the narrow defeat at Sport1. "That's how darts work," he stated in frustration.

Schindler's most important game of his career

In the biggest and most important game of his career so far, Schindler acted furiously for a long time and had many great moments. On the way back to Great Britain on Boxing Day, complications with the luggage at London Airport arose again. "There was a problem. The staff went on strike. The suitcase wasn't unloaded. The first night we had no suitcases again. Yesterday we got the suitcases. It was lucky last time," said Schindler before the game.

In "Ally Pally" the German number two and the best Englishman dueled at a very high level. The fact that Smith managed to "Big Fish" (check 170 points with three throws) early on didn't bother Schindler for long. This sat down with high scores more and more and kept his nerve on the double fields. "I'll have to club all the time to catch up," Schindler feared. But then it was the German who determined the game for a long time. At 3-1, surprise was close, but Smith bounced back in world-class style and won.