Australia avoid premature elimination at World Cup of Darts; Germany, Northern Ireland and Austria also advance to knockout stages

Australia struggled to qualify for the second round at the World Cup of Darts. Damon Heta and Simon Whitlock secured a hard-fought 4-2 victory over Hong Kong's Lok Yin Lee and Man Lok Leung.

The two Asians had already issued a warning Friday afternoon by convincingly winning 4-1 against Japan. However, Hong Kong let it slip against Australia in the fifth leg, in which three darts on the outer ring were missed. Heta then threw out 107 for a break and a 3-2 lead. With a 15-darter in the sixth leg, the Australian duo then secured victory.

Germany, as expected, disposed of Finland very easily in their second group match. Martin Schindler and Gabriel Clemens played a fine duel against Teemu Harju and Marko Kantele, winning 4-1 over the Finns. The host country took the first leg with a 14-darter, before Finland got on the scoreboard with a 12-darter. That proved to be the only leg for the Finnish duo, as Schindler and Clemens then threw an 18-darter, 17-darter and a 14-darter for a spot in the knockout stage.

Northern Ireland managed to qualify for the last sixteen at this Nations tournament with a 4-3 victory over Switzerland. Josh Rock and Brendan Dolan knew prior to the game that two legs was all they needed to reach the next round. The Northern Irish then took a 3-1 lead before Stefan Bellmont and Bruno Stöckli managed to come back to 3-3 with a brilliant 170 finish by Stöckli. A 13-darter then went to Northern Ireland.

Austria will also return to the next round of the World Cup of Darts. Mensur Suljovic and Rowby-John Rodriguez only needed to win two legs against Guyana to win the group and through a 17-darter and an 18-darter that task was completed within two legs. In the fourth leg, Guyana took another leg via a fine 152 finish, before Rodriguez sealed the match with a 40 finish.