MICHAEL VAN GERWEN has withdrawn from the 2017 German Darts Masters due to his ankle injury.
The World Champion has been struggling with bursitis in his left ankle but played his first round tie at the World Series of Darts event on Friday night, defeating Martin Schindler 6-2.
However, the injury has not recovered sufficiently overnight for Van Gerwen to compete in Saturday's final stages, where he could have compete in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.
As a result, his scheduled quarter-final opponent James Wade now receives a Bye into the semi-finals, with only three games now taking place in the afternoon session at the Castello Arena.
"Obviously I am devastated to pull out but as anyone could see last night my foot was in bad way," said Van Gerwen.
"On medical advice I have unfortunately decided to withdraw and now I am going to concentrate on getting it better for the rest of the year."