Darts player Joe Cullen insists he was disrespected by the media before beating Wessel Nijman at the PDC World Championship on Sunday.
Cullen won 3-0 to reach the third round the tournament despite being seen as the underdog in advance.
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Cullen defeated Nijman 3-0 before leaving his press conferenceCredit: Getty
He gave short answers during an interview with Sky Sports afterwards and later stormed out from his press conference.
“I’ve been shown no respect, so I’m not going to show you any respect tonight,” he said. “I’m going home, cheers.”
Before his outburst, Cullen spoke to talkSPORT and further claimed there was ‘horrific’ reporting ahead of the match.
“I enjoyed it,” he said after his victory. “I think in advance that he is favorite and whatever, I think it was the best thing that could have happened to me personally because he is not as good a player as I am and I think some bookmakers put him 2/5 were horrible.”
When responding to a question about whether it was disrespectful, Cullen said: “Can I swear? It’s 100 percent disrespectful. This is not a reflection on Wessel, he seems like a top guy, but he has no control over what other people say and do.
“The way he’s been talked about, out of his control, has kind of taken a toll on this because maybe I would have played like that, but to be honest I can’t remember the last time I was so excited about a game.”
Cullen was then asked about his reaction at the end of the game, and he continued: “I thought to myself that I was in control for most of the game, there were a few outbursts.
“But I just thought: ‘Don’t do something that you haven’t done the whole match’, also show a little respect for Wessel, because as I said at the beginning of this interview, nothing other than the dartboard happened.” I was on him, but I was just so ready for the game.”
“I can’t express on the microphone how much I was ready for the match,” he added. “I’ve never been so excited for a game in my life.”
Cullen also said: “I just don’t understand it. The bookmakers, I understand, because they look at form of the year and things like that, but…
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Cullen claimed he was not shown any respectCredit: @SkySportsDarts 
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He also told talkSPORT how good he was before the matchCredit: talkSPORT
“Is it Wessel’s second time at the World Cup? Yes, he was lucky to get through on Friday (against Cameron Carolissen). Again, this is no disrespect to Wessel, Carol played incredible darts and I saw the interview afterwards and Wessel backed up what I’m saying .
“It’s so hard to explain. I think Wessel, the media, is responsible for that loss, and not me.”
Cullen ended by saying: “2024 has been tough, it’s been up and down outside of darts, I’ve had a lot on my plate outside of darts but so has everyone else. I’m not going to sit here and tell the bad story but, if I had lost the match, I would still say the same thing.
“If I’m honest, I’ve been so sick this week. I haven’t thrown any darts for six days until Friday, honestly I’ve been so sick, but I just knew my mind was stronger than my actual practice match and I knew I would win today.”
Cullen, the 2022 Masters champion, has reached the third round of the PDC World Championship for the fifth time in his career.
A first ever fifth round appearance stands in the way of former winner Gerwyn Price, who defeated Keane Barry 3-0.
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