Dutch darts pioneer Vlaardingerbroek shares nice story about legendary nine-dart finish Paul Lim

Darts icon Paul Lim will make his appearance at the PDC World Darts Championship on Friday evening. The 66-year-old is set to play his 25th World Championship and is still immensely popular because of his nine-dart finish at Lakeside in 1990.

Lim became the first player to hit a perfect leg at any World Championship, while it's still the only ever nine-dart finish at the BDO World Championship. One of the witnesses from the unique nine-dart finish was Bert Vlaardingerbroek, who was the first Dutchman to participate in a World Darts Championship.

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Vlaardingerbroek, from darts hotbed The Hague, can remember the perfect leg still very well. ''I played there as well that year. We were all watching it backstage. Everyone went crazy. It was the story of the tournament'', he told Dutch channel NOS.

''It was magical. For years we looked forward to the moment someone would succeed. There was also a huge amount of money on it, which was much higher than what the winner received at the time. I believe it was £52,000.''

However, Lim was not allowed to keep that amount completely for himself, Vlaardingerbroek revealed. At the time, there was not much money to be made in the sport, so some players made deals with colleagues to split the prize money.

Paul Russell had an agreement with Lim that week to share all the prize money. So that man was completely over the moon. I also had such a deal with someone, but it cost me more then I earned with it. The first week after we ended the collaboration, he won a tournament.''