27/06/2024

Belgium prevail in difficult win over Singapore as World Cup of Darts continues

Dimitri van den Bergh and Kim Huybrechts started the World Cup of Darts with a victory over Singapore's iconic duo Paul Lim and Harith Lim. It did not go easy, but it was a 4-2 win.

The big question beforehand was how the two Belgians would get along. It is no public secret that Van den Bergh and Huybrechts no longer have a good relationship. That led to the two players completely ignoring each other last year. There was no question of that this time. They were fanatical together and tried to cheer each other on.

Yet it was Singapore that took the lead twice at the beginning of the match. That was mainly due to Paul Lim, who threw out 151 in the first leg and notched a 110 finish in the third leg. In between there was a 120 finish from Belgium, while a 76 finish in the fourth leg made for a 2-2 interval.

Tournament centre World Cup of Darts 2024: Schedule, all results, teams, TV Guide and prize money breakdown

Belgium then took their first lead of the match via a 19-darter in the fifth leg. The Belgians then secured victory with a 77 finish, allowing them to watch Singapore take on the Philippines on Friday afternoon. Belgium will play the Filipino duo of Christian Perez and Alexis Toylo on Friday night.

Ireland had a solid start to the tournament. William O'Connor and Keane Barry recorded a 4-2 victory over Darius Labanauskas and Mindaugas Barauskas of Lithuania. The third country in this group is Taiwan, who will take on Lithuania on Friday afternoon. On Friday night, Ireland and Taiwan face each other.

The match between the United States and Portugal became one to quickly forget. Jules van Dongen and Danny Lauby threw an average of only 69, but the Portuguese duo with Jose de Sousa and David Gomes did not do much better with 70 average. Portugal proved to be the better of the two and prevailed 4-2. The American duo will get a chance to make something of their tourney on Friday afternoon against Italy.

Krzysztof Ratajski and Radek Szaganski provided the first Polish points. The duo, who last year set a world record with a pairing average of 118.10, triumphed 4-2 against Cor Dekker and Håkon Bjørge Helling from Norway. Dekker and Helling will play Hungary on Friday afternoon, while the Hungarians play Poland in the evening.