Thursday, December 12, 2024
Column CM136
The Festive Season…
It is once again that time of the year – most people will think of Christmas while dart players and dart fans have other priorities. This is the month in which not only one but two World Championships – well, in fact, FIVE World Championships – are played and we all sit on our sofas glued to our TVs no matter whether it snows or rains, oblivious of all the hectic activities around us.
It may be we are at least a little bit aware of other things while the World Championships in Lakeside are played. No one will argue that the standard played there is far lower than in the PDC World Championship – and that some of the matches are boring and only drag on.
This year it was even more difficult because there were not many familiar faces among the participants in the men’s event. There were a lot of Australians – both seeded and not seeded, some internationals and some had seen some at home nation qualifiers on the PDC European Tour (like Patrick Kovacs or Dennis Nilsson), some WDF tournament winners (like Jimmy van Schie – of whom I had heard but was not aware he entered the tournament as favourite). A few players weree familiar from the days of the BDO (like Mark Barilli, Neil Duff or Gary Stone) and a few players once played PDC but were not successful enough to be able to stay there or to win a Tour Card (like Darren Johnson or Matthew Edgar, Brian Raman or even Shane McGuirk). And there of course was 70-year-old Paul Lim…
I had no idea who would win though – and I can‘t give a reason for it – after his first match I somehow felt Shane McGuirk was my favourite for the title.
Of course, it was much easier in the women’s event – a lot of the names were familiar and there was no doubt Beau Greaves would be the most likely to win again – even though she was not at her best.
The youth tournaments are always difficult to predict – a lot of the younger players are still far from consistent. I was really looking forward to them.
The tournament started a little bit slow with the men’s and women’s first round matches and I must admit I didn’t watch them with full concentration and missed some of the action. I payed a little bit more attention to the women and was quite impressed by Jitka Cisarova who I hadn’t seen play before. I was somewhat disappointed by Kirsty Hutchinson.
I enjoyed the Torbjörnsson vs. McGuirk match which was not as one-sided as the result. It was a big surprise for me when Sophie McKinlay defeated Lisa Ashton. As it was played in the evening-session, I saw Paul Lim’s first match and thought it was a nice win for him. I missed Jimmy van Schie‘s first match somehow but watched Paul Lim‘s second win – this time over Kai Fan Leung which was a diffcult match for both players who are close friends.
The Neil Duff/Reece Colley match was a nice one. Rhian O’Sullivan was a little bit disappointing but Lerena Rietbergen looked like an interesting prospect. Shane McGuirk continued to win as did Paul Lim.
The tournament grew more interesting when the boys came into the mix as well – what an unbelievable match Lex Paeshuyse played. Jimmy van Schie went out against Jarno Bottenberg who was Paul Lim’s next opponent but Paul still went on and stood in the semifinals. To be sure, his wins were due to his playing rhythm which is not always easy to watch – especially as they were played late in the night. But to see how sure he still is on his doubles and how he enjoys playing and interacting with the crowd was fanatastic.
And suddenly we had arrived at semifinals day. It was a little bit of a mixed experience as we did see a lot of one-sided matches in which Paige Pauling, Sophie McKinlay, Archie Self, Beau Greaves, Shane McGuirk and Paul Lim dominated. Only the boy‘s semifinal (between Jenson Walker and German Florian Preis) was a closer match.
Finals night started with the girls and a very forceful Paige Pauling gave a slightly unlucky Sophie McKinlay no chance. The boy’s final on the other side was a little bit of a surprise as favourite and #1 seed and three years older Jenson Walker had problems handling the situation while Archie Self looked less affected and won the match.
The women’s final was over after the first set – which Sophie McKinlay won. Beau Greaves, who defended her title for the second time, won with another dominant display.
At first, the men’s final looked to be a very one-sided affair. Shane McGuirk was just too strong for Paul Lim and had no problem coping with Lim’s slow rhythm. He soon led 4-0.
But Lim was not completely done yet and managed to win three sets before McGuirk ended the match 6-3. For me it was a fair result for both players – of course, most people would not have begrudged Lim the win but looking at the performances both players showed during the tournament McGuirk was the better player and the deserved win.
Many people will tell you that now-a-days the PDC World Championship is the real World Championship and some will doubt a WDF World Championship is justified at all, but for me the effort the WDF puts into giving non-pros a stage to play their own World Championship – a stage not only for the men but also the women, the boys and the girls as well – is worthwhile and most welcome.
This year’s World Championship showed what darts is really about – it is a sport for young and old, for female and male, and to be politically correct, for all who are in between or neither. It is a sport, that can delight, entertain and thrill and offes us highlights like the just 13 years old Lex Paeshuyse, Sophie McKinlay who reached the women’s and the girl’s final though she lost both, Beau Greaves winning a third Women’s World Championship at only 20 years of age, the first ever Irish World Champion and a 70-year-old reaching his first final on the same stage since he wrote history 34 years ago with the first ever and so far only Lakeside 9-darter… all remarkable and, fitting the seaon, heartwarming stories.
Now, I look forward to the PDC World Championship – though the fairy tale of the the 70-year-old Paul Lim will be hard to top by whatever happens in the “other” World Championship.
