FORGOTTEN DARTERS: Morihiro Hashimoto who became a cult figure at 2011 PDC World Championship

In this column, we regularly reminisce about forgotten darters from the past. Today is the turn of the Japanese ace Morihiro Hashimoto. He became a cult figure during the 2011 PDC World Championship.

Born in 1977, Hashimoto made his first appearance in the PDC in 2009 during qualifying for the Las Vegas Desert Classic. In the end, he failed to qualify and a little later he also took part in a Players Championship tournament without much success.

Hashimoto narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 2010 PDC World Championship when he lost to Haruki Muramatsu in the final of the Japanese qualifying tournament.

A year later he was successful in that Japanese qualifying tournament. In the final he took on Mitsumasa Hoshino and claimed his debut at the 2011 edition of the PDC World Championship.

The Japanese had to compete against Matt Padgett in the preliminary round. At a 1-1 tie in legs, the crowd started chanting his name to the tune of Reach Up (Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag), a song by Perfecto Allstarz. Hashimoto went on to win the match 4-2 in legs and faced Gary Anderson later that evening. The Scotsman won easily 3-0 in sets, yet it was Hashimoto who stole the show and quickly became a real cult figure among the frenzied crowd. He thanked the audience extensively after the game.

Three years later, Hashimoto made his second and last appearance at the PDC World Championship. After beating Paul Lim in the preliminary round, he then lost to Michael Smith. Again, however, it was Hashimoto who had the entire crowd behind him.

Hashimoto made appearances at the World Cup of Darts in 2015 and 2016 (by the side of Muramatsu), but in 2017, the darts world had to say goodbye to him after he suddenly died of a brain haemorrhage. The Japanese thrower was only forty years old.