 |
| Photo from sportinglife.com |
In the opening match of the tournament, Seigo Asada and Haruki Muramatsu edged past Gibraltar's Dyson Parody and Antony Lopez.
39-year-old Asada took out 104 in the deciding leg, to put a stop to Parody's expressive style on the oche.
(6) Northern Ireland 4-5 South Africa
South Africa were up next, and in another last leg decider, they beat sixth seeds Northern Ireland.
Devon Petersen and his debutant partner Vernon Bouwers regularly scored well in all of the legs, but lacked the set-up shooting and finishing ability to make the win more comfortable.
Petersen, who made it to the fourth round of this year's World Championship, hit a 180 in the decider, checking out 74 for the win.
Two-time major winner Daryl Gurney and Brendan Dolan were heavy favourites, but were beaten by Petersen and Last Man Standing event winner Bouwers.
South Africa also caused a huge upset as they stunned sixth seeds Northern Ireland, with Devon Petersen raising the roof with a 180 and a 74 checkout in the deciding leg.
New Zealand 5-1 Lithuania
Cody Harris and Haupai Puha of New Zealand defeated debutants Lithuania to progress from the first round for the first time in four years.
Lithuania's Darius Labanauskas is a regular on the PDC tour, but it was Harris who showed his big game experience with a 110 finish helping his team to a 4-0 lead.
Labanauskas and Barauskas avoided the whitewash as the former took out 100, before HArris took out 124 for a resounding victory.
(7) Belgium 5-1 Hong Kong
Belgium also dished out a 5-1 demolition over Hong Kong, represented by Dimitri van den Bergh and Kim Huybrechts.
Royden Lam levelled the scores at 1-1 with a 141 checkout, before Huybrechts and the two-time world youth champion won all the remaining legs, including a 136 checkout in the last.
Brazil 1-5 Sweden
Sweden came from a leg down to beat Brazil 5-1, with Magnus Caris hitting a 141 on the way to victory.
The 50-year-old has announced he will retire after the World Cup, so will be delighted to make it past the first round with partner Dennis Nilsson.
(3) Wales 3-5 Singapore
Paul Lim and Harith Lim caused another World Cup upset against Wales, two years after dumping Scotland out in the first round.
The Singapore Slingers, who gave England a scare in round two last year, beat the third seed pair of Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton.
The oldest player in the tournament Paul Lim, 65, turned professional nearly forty years ago, and is an inpsiration to many to keep playing at a very high level.
But it was his partner Harith - no relation - who hit the winning double with the last dart in his hand, just after Clayton had missed a dart at double 16 to force a decider.
Having come from 2-1 down, Singapore averaged more than nine points more than their opponents, as Wales missed 14 darts at doubles.
Hungary 1-5 Germany
The home favourites cruised into the second round with a 5-1 win over Hungary helped by a poor performance from Pal Szekely and Janos Vegso.
Young duo Max Hopp and Martin Schindler, missed 11 darts at double but they still only gave their opponents - who averaged 4 - one leg
Looking to improve on two successive quarter final appearances, Schindler provided the highlight of the match with a 137 checkout.
(2) Scotland 5-0 Denmark
Runners-up last year Scotland whitewashed Denmark 5-0 to end the night.
Averaging 101 and hitting five of eight darts at double didn't give Per Laursen and Niels Heinsøe much of a chance.
Gary Anderson was making a rare appearance on the TV in 2019, as he continues to recover from a niggling back injury that caused him to withdraw from the Premier League, but you wouldn't have known that as he and Peter Wright restricted their opponents to just one dart at double.
An ever-present at the World Cup, Per Laursen was playing with an eighth different partner in the ninth edition of the tournament.
Teams
With nations represented by two-player teams, competitors are initially selected based on the PDC Order of Merit, where two or more players are ranked.
With seedings based on the cumulative PDC ranking of the two players, England will be the top seeds going into this year's event.
Seeded Teams
(1) England - Rob Cross & Michael Smith
(2) Scotland - Gary Anderson & Peter Wright
(3) Wales - Gerwyn Price & Jonny Clayton
(4) Netherlands - Michael van Gerwen & Jermaine Wattimena
(5) Australia - Simon Whitlock & Kyle Anderson
(6) Northern Ireland - Daryl Gurney & Brendan Dolan
(7) Belgium - Kim Huybrechts & Dimitri Van den Bergh
(8) Austria - Mensur Suljovic & Zoran Lerchbacher
Unseeded
Brazil - Diogo Portela & Artur Valle
Canada - Dawson Murschell & Jim Long
China - Xiaochen Zong & Yuanjun Liu
Czech Republic - Pavel Jirkal & Karel Sedlacek
Denmark - Per Laursen & Niels Heinsøe
Finland - Marko Kantele & Kim Viljanen
Germany - Max Hopp & Martin Schindler
Gibraltar - Dyson Parody & Antony Lopez
Greece - John Michael & Veniamin Symeonidis
Hong Kong - Royden Lam & Kai Fan Leung
Hungary - Pal Szekely & Janos Vegso
Italy - Andrea Micheletti & Stefano Tomassetti
Japan - Seigo Asada & Haruki Muramatsu
Lithuania - Darius Labanauskas & Mindauskas Barauskas
New Zealand - Cody Harris & Haupai Puha
Philippines - Lourence Ilagan & Noel Malicdem
Poland - Krzysztof Ratajski & Tytus Kanik
Republic of Ireland - Steve Lennon & William O'Connor
Russia - Boris Koltsov & Aleksei Kadochnikov
Singapore - Paul Lim & Harith Lim
South Africa - Devon Petersen & Vernon Bouwers
Spain - Cristo Reyes & Toni Alcinas
Sweden - Dennis Nilsson & Magnus Caris
United States of America - Darin Young & Chuck Puleo
Format
First Round
Best of nine legs - doubles.
All players take part in every leg of the match, in an alternative visit format.
Second Round, Quarter-Finals & Semi-Finals
These matches will be played as two best of seven leg 501 singles matches, with both nations nominating the order in which their players play.
In the event of both nations winning one singles match apiece, a best of seven leg 501 doubles match will be played to decide the tie.
Final
This will be two best-of-seven-legs 501 singles matches, with both nations nominating the order in which their players play the first two matches, followed by a best of seven leg 501 doubles match and then reverse singles matches.
The first team to win three games is declared the winner.
Friday Order of Play
First Round (Best of nine legs - doubles)
China v USA
Italy v Canada
Poland v Czech Republic
Republic of Ireland v Greece
(1) England v Philippines
(8) Austria v Russia
(5) Australia v Finland
(4) Netherlands v Spain
Draw
Section One
(1) England v Philippines
Republic of Ireland v Greece
(8) Austria v Russia
China v USA
=
v
v
Section Two
(5) Australia v Finland
Italy v Canada
(4) Netherlands v Spain
Poland v Czech Republic
=
v
v
Section Three
(2) Scotland 5-0
(7) Belgium 5-1
=
(2) Scotland v Sweden
(7) Belgium v Germany
Section Four
New Zealand 5-1
=
South Africa v New Zealand
Singapore v Japan
No comments:
Post a Comment