BDO World Championship Preview - Day Four, afternoon session

Tuesday sees the last full day of round one action at Frimley Green, with the second round kicking off tomorrow. The afternoon session has an orange feel; three of the four ties feature a Dutch player. Had Jeffrey Sparidaans won his preliminary tie, it would have been four out of four.

Dennis Nilsson has been tipped by more than a few darts aficionados to go on a decent World Championship run. The Swede averaged 92.56 in his preliminary round thrashing of Sparidaans. Only Darius Labanauskas, Scott Mitchell, Glen Durrant, Wayne Warren and Danny Noppert have averaged higher so far. The former Sweden's Strongest Man runner-up is a powerful scorer, and could be a dark horse. But ninth seed Jim Williams will not be entertaining such thoughts. The Welshman reached six ranking finals in 2017, winning three of them. He has not yet reached the quarter-finals at the Lakeside. Perhaps this will be his year. The winner of this one, whoever it may be, plays Cameron Menzies or Conan Whitehead.

The first Dutch thrower to take to the Lakeside stage this afternoon is Richard Veenstra, the men's 11th seed. Veenstra won the German Masters in 2017, and placed well in a host of other tournaments to end the year tenth in the BDO Order of Merit. Veenstra has the odd record of only losing to runners-up. Jeff Smith beat him in the 2016 semi-finals, and last year he was dumped out by Danny Noppert in round two. That could possibly bode well for Kyle McKinstry. McKinstry won the Northern Ireland Open on home turf, and also picked up the HAL Masters title. Despite being 14th in the Order of Merit, McKinstry is unseeded. That means this game will be much tighter than it appears on paper. The winner will want to hang around, as they will play the winner of the session's last match in round two.

Second seed Aileen de Graaf heads into the World Championship in fine form. The World Trophy, Finder Masters, Turkish Open, British Classic, Belgium Open, Hungarian Masters, LDO Turkey Classic, FCD Anniversary Open and Polish Open champion - and that's just the ranking events - is seeking to claim a first world title. De Graaf has lost two semi-finals in a row, but is now ready to take the extra step. She takes on the eminently experienced Paula Jacklin in the first round. Jacklin lost 2-0 to de Graaf in the first round on debut two years ago. The 60-year-old will be looking to avoid a repeat. The prize is a quarter-final meeting with ten-time world champion Trina Gulliver.

Anything for another day of Paul Nicholson saying "Derk Telnekes" in his Geordie brogue. The young Dutchman had to win three deciding legs to seal a 3-0 defeat of compatriot Chris Landman in the preliminary round. To do showed a lot of nerve, as well as the quality needed to win games. Telnekes will need to repeat the feat to stand a chance against sixth seed Geert de Vos. The Belgian ended a run of five consecutive second round exits at the Lakeside last year, when he was edged out in a deciding set by Darryl Fitton in the quarter-final. De Vos, the England Open and the Bruges Open, is the clear favourite to set up a meeting with Veenstra or McKinstry. But Telnekes showed in the preliminary round that he is not to be underestimated.
Click here for more information about the schedule for the first round. The TV schedule for Lakeside can be found here. Click here for more information about the Lakeside 2018 prize fund.