Mensur Suljovic has denied intentionally provoking Joe Cullen during their World Darts Championship clash, with the Englishman describing his pace of play as like "cheating" and "not darts".
Suljovic came from a set down to claim a 3-1 victory in their second-round meeting at the Alexandra Palace, where Cullen was left angered by the Austrian's on-stage behaviour and slow play.
'The Rockstar' was unhappy with the length of time his opponent was taking to recover his darts, and the time he was taking to celebrate, with referee Kirk Bevans even forced to intervene.
Cullen criticised his opponent on social media immediately after his defeat, having stopped to give him a hard stare as he left the stage, although Suljovic insisted his behaviour was not intentionally annoying.
"I never, ever do this as a provocation," Suljovic said in his press conference, shortly before Cullen posted. "I do it only for my game. I like my game - I never do it to be a villain. Sorry Joe, I never do this - I love you man."
Cullen had said on X: "If that's darts, I don't want no part of it! Always liked Mensur away from the board but that was plain for all to see!
"I don't think I'm alone in feeling this way. The old guard will say it's part of the game but word it how you will - it's CHEATING! That's not darts."
Suljovic's manager made no comment to Your Site News when contacted regarding the social media post, although the 20th seed added in his press conference that he had not apologised to Cullen following their match.
"I never do [said] sorry to Joe Cullen in person," Suljovic added. "Never. I play on the stage - what's his problem? Sorry maybe for the referee, but for Joe Cullen? Never.
"'You play this, you play this', everybody plays different. I wait maybe 40 seconds before first dart, but some guys (gestures throwing motion) and my head (gestures almost being hit in the head by a dart). This is not OK."
Three-time Lakeside champion and former Premier League champion Glen Durrant said Suljovic did not break any rules and acknowledged how he used "gamesmanship" to enable him to defeat the fast-flowing Cullen.
Durrant said: "You know what Mensur Suljovic is going to do and we try to portray that on the commentary as well. He can go from being very slow to playing very quickly and maybe he saw a chink in the armour of Joe Cullen.
"I did see throughout that match that Joe kept his temperament brilliantly and I can understand both sides. Sometimes we do go on social media just maybe too much in the moments.
"He didn't break any rules. The referees spoke to Mensur during it, over an issue, dealt with that perfectly well.
"The bottom line is Joe Cullen had three set darts in that third set. He was winning sets with a 79 average - that should be upsetting Joe Cullen more than what, at times, he's labelled the gamesmanship side of it."
Two-time world champion John Part added: "I can absolutely see why he [Cullen] was frustrated, yes, and I've felt that way many times playing against slow players. The bottom line is you can either cope or you can't cope, and good players cope.
"I think Joe, at the end of it all, was probably more upset, really, truly inside that he just didn't cope very well with it. Normally he would. Normally he'd be laughing at Mensur [Suljovic]'s antics and thinking 'what do you think you could do there'. Today, somehow it worked.
"All around, it didn't work for Joe. Mensur hit the doubles he needed to hit, got the shots done and he's through. For Joe, it's just a really tough day at the office."
Cullen has never progressed beyond the fourth round in any of his 16 World Championship appearances, with five-time world championship semi-finalist Wayne Mardle believing he was more frustrated by his performance than Suljovic's slow play.
"Joe was gutted because he lost and frustrated because of the way he played and just annoyed with Mensur [Suljovic]'s antics," Mardle told Your Site. "Mensur was slow. I was watching it thinking, 'come on Mensur, that is slow,' Mensur's done this for decades.
"I can see why Joe got frustrated, but he got more frustrated at his own performance and he's been beaten with an 80 average. He'll be angered, annoyed, vexed - you name it, all that, because that was such a winnable game.
"You will not get Mensur playing a worse game than that in this year's World Championships, and he beat Joe, that's why Joe's angered and annoyed, he's frustrated."
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