James Wade has continued his trend of bizarre greetings for his darts rivals.
Five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld was the latest star to fall victim to Wade’s strange antics, as the 41-year-old gave him a kiss on the cheek before their second round clash at the Belgian Darts Open.
4
4
Van Barneveld evidently saw the funny side of it all as he showed off a wide grin following the interaction.
However, ‘Barney’ was in no laughing mood prior to Wade planting a kiss on his cheek.
The Dutch darts icon waved his arms in the direction of the referee after Wade appeared to take his time during his walk-on.
Wade ultimately prevailed 6-4 to book a third round clash with Boris Krcmar.
The 41-year-old’s unique greeting for Van Barneveld comes after he controversially appeared to lick Luke Humphries prior to their UK Open quarter-final contest.
It was evidently a tense affair between the two when they did not exchange a customary handshake or fist bump going into the deciding leg.
Wade secured the upset victory by a 10-9 margin, a result which left Humphries frustrated as he seemed to shoulder barge his rival following the contest.
The world No. 1 later explained his actions in a since-deleted post on X.
“Everyone loves to see people be a bad loser but I’m generally one of the best losers in the sport,” Humphries wrote.
“I wasn’t going to give someone who didn’t deserve my respect after what he was doing through the game a hug and be all happy about it, that’s just my honesty.”
4
Wade went on to reach the final but he was blown to smithereens by Luke Littler, as the teenager romped to an 11-2 win.
Despite his run to the final, all the headlines surrounding Wade belonged to his strange licking of Humphries.
Former darts star and talkSPORT commentator Paul Nicholson was one who was not a fan of Wade’s actions and claimed in a column for Sporting Life the incident could be ‘investigated.’
“There had seemingly been tensions building throughout and they didn’t exchange the usual handshake or fist bump before the deciding leg, which Wade licking Humphries’ neck before the match may have been an issue,” Nicholson wrote.
“I think sometimes as a competitor, you have to draw a line and say, ‘If you are going to play games and do things within a competitive environment that cross the line, then don’t expect respect in return’.
“The photograph that surfaced of James sticking his tongue out and touched Luke’s neck was disgusting and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was investigated.
4
“Whether that was one of the things that bothered Luke or not, the fact he left the stage in the manner he did after the match wasn’t anything to do with being a ‘bad loser’.
“If James hadn’t done anything provocative, Luke’s reaction to defeat would have been very different.”
