Home heroes Germany ruthless in Hong Kong opener as Drue Reus stars for Denmark with 114 average in Austria shock

The opening night at the World Cup of Darts continues and it is mainly going the way of the big names so far including for Germany.

In front of their home crowd, Martin Schindler and Gabriel Clemens showed their credentials for Germany with a superb 4-0 whitewash win over Hong Kong.

Their team spirit has always been there and it showed with Clemens setting up and Schindler pinning the doubles efficiently in a ruthless display.

Schindler opened up with a solid start hitting a 52 checkout for Germany. Again it was The Wall with some superb set up play from Clemens allowing a shot at 70 for 2-0.

Schindler missed 111 for 3-0 and Clemens missed further darts at double allowing Hong Kong a shot at 70 but Schindler returned for double two. Again it was Schindler who finished it off with a 68 checkout.

But among the France win earlier tonight, a bigger upset for different reasons saw a superb standard game won by Denmark against Austria.

It was the performance though not of their captain, Vladimir Andersen but of their rising debutant, Benjamin Drue Reus which caught all the attention.

In a 4-2 win, Reus averaged individually 114.7 against the former finalists in Rowby-John Rodriguez and Mensur Suljovic in a display where unlike his teammate, he showed little emotion despite the brilliance on show.

To start the tie, Suljovic missed 116 after Reus hit a 180 and Rodriguez missed further darts and the Dane returned for double 16 to make it 1-0.  

But that break didn’t last with captain Suljovic hitting a 44 checkout to make it 1-1. Reus hit the second 180 of the match and a third to pressure after Rodriguez missed darts to hold but the pressure didn’t tell for Suljovic who produced his famous headbutt after hitting double six for 2-1.

Reus again filled it up with a third 180 and Rodriguez returned to his look back to the crowd when on a 180 and produced a maximum himself.

Reus missed 161 on the bull to hold throw but after missed darts from Andersen, it was the debutant Dane that proved the hero again to make it 2-2.

Rodriguez missed the bull to hold and again Reus proved to be the man with a 74 checkout to make it 3-2 and he sealed it with a 116 checkout.

While against the returning Indian pairing, this time with Prakash Jiwa and Amit Gilitwala instead of Nitin Kumar who was initially in the line-up, it was Canada who prevailed 4-2.

The pairing of Matt Campbell and Jeff Smith who talked up their chances in New York proved too strong.

After being lauded for an easy win potentially, India hit a 75 checkout for 1-1. Two darts were spurned by Gilitwala for 2-2 and Smith produced a superb clean kill 76 checkout for 3-1.

But a 68 checkout from Jiwa in another combination checkout saw India break back for 3-2. A 140 to leave 45 from Smith saw Campbell take the win though after match darts were spurned in the previous leg.