Dirk van Duijvenbode battles through shoulder pain to revive Grand Slam of Darts hopes as James Wade surges past Nathan Girvan

Dirk van Duijvenbode has secured his first points at the Grand Slam of Darts. It was not pretty what 'Aubergenius' showed against Steve Lennon, but he still beat the Irishman 5-2 to keep his hopes alive.

Due to a shoulder injury, Van Duijvenbode did not appear fit at the start of this tournament. He lost 5-4 to Gary Anderson in his first group match, which of course is no disgrace.

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Against Lennon, Van Duijvenbode played a lot less, but due to many missed doubles, Lennon left the Dutchman with a strong chance. Lennon missed a total of 12 darts on the doubles, which was one less than Van Duijvenbode. However, he did create a lot more chances.

Van Duijvenbode did deal a blow twice by hitting 139 and 136, while Lennon was waiting for a good finish. In the end, 'Aubergenius' took the win 5-2 after a 15-darter in the seventh leg.

He is still in the race to reach the knockout stage. If Gary Anderson wins against Luke Humphries, Humphries and Van Duijvenbode will decide on Monday who will advance to the second round with Anderson.

While James Wade also kept his hopes alive. 'The Machine' took down Nathan Girvan 5-2 in a Machine like display as he came from 2-0 down to see off the World Youth finalist.

In a group which features Michael Smith as the leading light who will face Krzysztof Ratajski next, it seems a tie against 'Bully Boy' will help to decide the fate of Wade in terms of reaching the second round.

Wade was defeated 5-4 by Ratajski yesterday who will face Nathan Girvan aiming to reach the second round himself if he can't defeat Smith so a lot of equations still to be sorted out in Group A.

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