Darts European Championship: Gerwyn Price and Michael van Gerwen suffer shock early exits
- Published
Gerwyn Price and Michael van Gerwen suffered shock first-round defeats at the European Championship in Dortmund.
World number two Price lost 6-4 to Austria's Rowby-John Rodriguez, ranked 65 places below him.
"I'm shaking. I can't believe I've beaten the world number two," Rodriguez told ITV 4.
Van Gerwen, the world number three, lost 6-5 to Chris Dobey, having beat the Englishman in all 11 of their previous meetings.
Wales' Price was under pressure from Rodriguez throughout and the Austrian secured victory with a 100 finish after the 2021 world champion missed two darts at tops.
Rodriguez will meet world number one and reigning world champion Peter Wright, who beat Ryan Meikle 6-2 on Friday, in round two.
Three-time world champion Van Gerwen had come from 4-2 down to lead Dobey 5-4 but missed four match darts in the next leg to send the match to a decider, which Dobey won with an 11-darter.
Reigning European champion Rob Cross was knocked out by James Wade in the opening round on Thursday.