An identical scoreline was enough to see the potentially dangerous Austria past their opponents China and also helped Sweden beat the beautifully named pair of Duo and Parody from Gibraltar.
A 4-2 lead for three-time World Champion John Part and his Canadian compadre Narian looked to be enough to see off the threat of Japan, but they were to be severely punished for missing seven match darts by Hashimoto and Muramatsu.
Three 15-darters and a 100% checkout rate in the first three legs demonstrated that South Africa could be a force to be reckoned with in their tie with home nation Germany. The support of the crowd however got them back to within a leg of levelling and helped them land a 100 outshot to keep the match alive at 3-4, but Filby’s finish of 36 ended their hopes.
Shock conquerors of England back in 2010; it was no surprise to see the Spanish beat the Kiwis 5-3, though it was perhaps unexpected when the Republic of Ireland’s team of Finnan and O’Connor sacrificed a 3-nil lead to the Singapore Slingers, Lim and Lim, one being Paul Lim who still remains the only man to throw a 9-darter at the Lakeside, to lose 5-3. You certainly wouldn’t have gone out on a ‘Lim’ to predict that comeback.
Despite there never being a French player at the World Championships, France pushed Wales all the way before Richie Burnett broke in the final leg to win 5-4, both sides averaging just over 70, before the first whitewash of the competition occurred as Kim and Ronny Huybrechts blew away India 5-0
A maximum with his first throw in the tournament for Brendan Dolan proved ominous in Northern Ireland’s 5-2 victory against Malaysia as did Peter Wright’s 101 finish in leg four for Scotland as he and Robert
Thornton progressed to the next
stage by beating Russia 5-1. .
The round concluded with
appearances from the big boys,
England, the Netherlands and
Australia and they each passed
their tests against Thailand, Italy
and Denmark with flying
colours, winning 5-0, 5-2 and 5-2 respectively.
ROUND TWO
The format for the second round, quarter-finals and semi-finals was slightly different; two singles matches (best of 7 legs), first to 2 points overall wins, with a pairs match to decide the winner if the match is level.
A quick 4-0 victory for Devon Petersen over Paul Lim was soon cancelled out as Harith Lim latched onto Graham Filby missing two darts at a double for the match to win 4-3 and to take the game to a pairs decider. And it went right to the wire before Devon hit an ice-cool 68 finish in the last leg to give the Proteas the crucial point they needed to make the last eight.
Japan were denied a successive showing in the quarter-finals by the Northern Irish after Mansell and Dolan both reigned supreme in their singles matches, a pivotal moment being a 104 finish for Brendan in leg seven as he continued to show why he’s been so prolific on the Pro Tour over the past few months.