Thursday, June 6, 2019
Column HR260
BetVictor PDC World Cup of Darts – Day One
When the sun rose this morning in Hamburg, Germany, at 5:29 a.m. the odds were good that few if any of the 2 million-plus metropolitan area population knew or even cared that in just 15 hours the PDC World Cup X would begin. On the other hand, it’s a good bet that the 64 darters playing for country and £350,000 (in USD that’s $444,946 and an all-important 40 cents) were aware and ready to toe the line.
It was cloudy all day but when the first dart was thrown 8 teams would find sunshine inside the Barclaycard Arena and move on to round 2.
This half of the draw opened up like a service girl on Saturday night in a port of call with the #3 seed (Wales) and #6 (Northern Ireland) out. Singapore and South Africa stole the show while Scotland was the most impressive. Northern Ireland was a disgrace – they looked like they didn’t want to be there.
Below, the favored team is listed in BOLD type. In addition, the winner of the bull receives an asterisk. Why? Two reasons: in the “DK World Cup Pool” the bull is important just as in darts and writing about darts. The more bull the better.
First Round Par Uno:
Japan – 5 vs. Gibraltar – 4*: The match went with the darts until Japan broke in the 5th. They held to take a 4-2 lead. Gibraltar’s Anthony evened things at 4 with a pair of double tops. In the decider Gibraltar’s Dyson Parody tossed T04 to leave 42. Seigo Asada erased 104 to give Japan the win. They will meet Singapore in round 2 for Asian supremacy.
South Africa – 5 vs. #6 Northern Ireland – 4*: Dancing Devon Petersen was magnificent – in 9 legs he had 7 T40s and a T80. Forget that South Africa missed 19 darts at a double. Peterson hit the d16 for the win, which is all that counts. Northern Ireland’s Daryl Gurney and Brendan Dolan were horrid. They played as if they didn’t care. They’re out. Meanwhile, South Africa will meet New Zealand.
New Zealand – 5 vs. Lithuania – 1*: Cody Harris, a Kiwi who’s been playing the Challenge Tour in England took all 5 doubles to finish off Lithuania. New Zealand will meet South Africa in round 2.
#7 Belgium – 5* vs. Hong Kong – 1: When Hong Kong busted 9 trailing 3-1 with the darts Belgium took control. At 4-1 it was Dimitri Van den Bergh who applied the dagger with a T80 and then a T36 out. Belgium reached the finals in 2013 and will now face Germany in the round of 16.
Sweden – 5 vs. Brazil – 1*: Brazil started the match with a 13-darter with Diogo Portela tossing T80, T40 and double tops. Then, the finishing of Dennis Nilsson got Sweden to 3-1 with partner Magnus Caris taking the final two. Hold the Caris retirement party. When asked he said, “I’ll retire Sunday.”
Singapore – 5* vs. Wales – 3: In 2017, when Paul and Harith Lim defeated Scotland 5-2 it was called the Frankfurt New Chinese Takeout. Now in 2019, let’s call it the Hamburg New Chinese Takeout as they eliminated Wales 5-3. Paul Lim played great as Harith overcame a couple of missed doubles to hit the winner on the third dart. They meet Japan in the next round.
Germany – 5 vs. Hungary – 1*: The crowd came alive when the home folks laid a proper AK on Hungry. They celebrated by singing “Hay Baby.” It doesn’t get any better than that. Hungary could take some solace as they won the bull. Germany will face Belgium in round 2.
#2 Scotland – 5* vs. Denmark – 0: One of the questions entering play was “How is Gary Anderson going to play after being away from competitive darts?” Then it was, “Is Peter Wright going to regain his form?” Both questions were answered with a resounding YES.
Play continues tomorrow on the other side of the draw as round 1 comes to a close. America opens it up with a match against China. A win and they’ll face either Austria or Russia. Canada should be favored against Italy with a win pitting them against Australia.
The first match is at 10:00 a.m. on the west coast and 1:00 p.m. on the east coast.
First round Par Duex – Friday (favored team in BOLD):
USA (Darin Young and Chuck Puleo) vs. China (Xiaochen Zong and Yuajun Liu – Liu who, was a member of the 2016 and 2017 WC teams, replaces Qingyu Zhan who could not attend due to passport issues)
Canada (Dawson Murschell and Jim Long) vs. Italy (Andrea Micheletti and Stefano Tomassetti
Poland (Krzysztof Ratajski and Tytus Kanik) vs. Czech Republic (Pavel Jirkal and Karel Sedlacek)
Republic of Ireland (Steve Lennon and William O’Connor vs. Greece (John Michael and Ioannis Selachoglou)
#1 England (Rob Cross and Michael Smith) vs Philippines (Lourence Ilagan and Noel Malicdem)
#8 Austria (Mensur Suljovic and Zoran Lerchbacher) Vs. Russia (Boris Koltsov and Aleksei Kadochnikov)
#5 Australia (Simon Whitlock and Kyle Anderson vs. Finland (Marko Kantele and Kim Viljanen)
#4 Netherlands (Michael van Gerwen and Jermaine Wattimena vs. Spain (Cristo Reyes and Toni Alcinas)
Stay thirsty my friends.
