The dethroned world champion Gerwyn Price scratched his forehead in embarrassment, then left the largest darts stage in the world full of frustration.

Instead of heralding the long-awaited and full-bodied era with a second title, the former rugby professional from Wales has already been eliminated in the World Cup quarter-finals.

He now has to watch as his closest rivals play out the 25 kilogram Sid Waddell Trophy and prize money of 500,000 pounds (around 595,000 euros). In the 4-5 defeat in a high-class duel with England's Michael Smith, even a rare nine-darter was not enough for the "Iceman".

Price's farewell performance at this World Cup was highly emotional. At first he cheered the perfect game enthusiastically and with a loud roar, later the 36-year-old got bogged down in a dispute with a fan who shouted him off the mark. Price had felt so irritated at the high-class quarter-finals that he even briefly interrupted his throwing series to inform the referee about the troublemaker. Winner Smith said after the game: "Someone from behind kept calling my name, that got me out too." Price only wrote on Instagram that night: "Cheats" - which means cheats in German.

The background noises, the nine-darter and the gripping match against Smith should be forgotten quickly, but the self-confident muscleman will remain. Especially since Price had compared himself to record world champion Phil Taylor (16 world titles) before the World Cup and announced on Sky Sports: “Give me two or three more years, then I'll be much more dominant. Even though I'm already world champion and first in the ranking. "

He doesn't just want to be as dominant as his current rival Michael van Gerwen (Netherlands) in the past few years, but also like the Englishman with the nickname "The Power", who has resigned since 2018 and who has been hard to beat for years. "I'll probably look to get it more in the direction of Phil Taylor domination," said Price. Around three weeks later, he's not only lost his world title, but also has to worry about his status as number one in 2022.

Of course, such statements and boasting are part of the business, which the PDC world association also earns from and which in turn pays out to its players as prize money. Still, before the World Cup, there was hardly any basis to believe in an era of Price. He had only won one major tournament since his world title a year ago. For comparison: his compatriot Jonny Clayton, only number eight in the world, secured four of the coveted trophies in this period alone.

Price survived a real shock moment in the World Cup tournament in a 3-2 win against Belgium's Kim Huybrechts and almost did it again, but this time he discarded two match darts.

The strong Smith, who had previously taken Clayton out of the tournament, came back into the game and won in the end deservedly.

He called the victory over Price "one of the best evenings of my career".