Schedule WDF World Championship 2024 on Saturday: Can 70-year-old Paul Lim make it into Lakeside final?
WDF
It's semifinals day at the 2024 WDF World Championship at Lakeside. Eight matches will be played this Saturday to determine who gets to compete in the finals on Sunday.
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Four matches are scheduled in both the afternoon and evening session; a men's match, a women's match and a semifinal from both the boys' and girls' tournament.
We begin the day at 2 p.m. with the first semifinal from the girls' tournament. The talented English player Paige Pauling will then take on Jentl Fransen of Belgium. Playing in the other semifinal is Sophie McKinlay, who has a busy day ahead of her.
In fact, the Scottish player is also still in the women's tournament. McKinlay caused sensations this week by eliminating both four-time world champion Lisa Ashton and number two seed Aileen de Graaf. McKinlay will play Lerena Rietbergen in the semifinals of the women's tournament. The Dutchwoman is making her debut at Lakeside this year and so far managed to beat Maud Jansson (2-0), Rhian O'Sullivan (2-0) and compatriot Aletta Wajer (2-1). Rietbergen could become the third Dutch player ever to reach the final of the Women's World Championship at Lakeside. Earlier Francis Hoenselaar (2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009) and Aileen de Graaf (2023) preceded her.
So in the evening session we will see McKinlay back for the second semifinal of the girls tournament. She will then meet Italy's Aurora Fochesato, who is the defending champion in the girls' tournament. Also on the program are the two semifinals of the boys' tournament. Top favorite Jenson Walker will battle Florian Preis, while Belgian super-talent Lex Paeshuyse will take on Archie Self.
Sophie McKinlay plays both the women's tournament semifinals and the girls semifinals on Saturday
In theory, it could be a great day for Belgian darts, as a Belgian dart player is also among the contenders in the men's event. Francois Schweyen managed to qualify for the last four after wins over Michael Cassar (2-0), Danny Porter (3-0), Brian Raman (3-2) and Thomas Junghans. Schweyen faces a tough task, however, to knock off Shane McGuirk, as the Irishman has emerged as the most consistent player this week. McGuirk dealt with Mark Barilli (2-0), Edwin Torbjörnsson (3-0), Brandon Weening (3-0) and Peter Machin (4-0). McGuirk is thus still without a set loss after four matches.
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Beau Greaves will try to reach the final at Lakeside on Saturday night for the third time in her career. She will meet Deta Hedman, who has been in the final three times but lost them all. Greaves won her two previous World Championship finals in 2022 and 2023 and triumphed easily earlier in the tournament against Kirsi Viinikainen (2-0) and Jitka Cisarova (3-0), while Hedman was too strong for Kirsty Hutchinson (2-1) and Nicole Regnaud (2-0).
Main event of the evening though, will be provided by Paul Lim. The 70-year-old darts legend will try to reach the final for the first time on his 27th World Championship appearance. The Singaporean crowd favourite managed to win handsomely earlier this tournament over Moreno Blom (2-0), Kai Fan Leung (3-2), Gary Stone (3-2) and Jarno Bottenberg (4-3). His American opponent Jason Brandon was on stage for a lot less time this week. Only against Neil Duff (4-3) did he lose sets, after earlier wins over Hannes Schnier (3-0) and Sybren Gijbels (3-0).
Live stream for Lakeside 2024
The tournament will be broadcast on TV in the UK throughout finals weekend. BLAZE (Freeview 64/Sky HD 164/Freesat 161/Virgin 174/Sky Glass 169/BLAZE App) will air live and uninterrupted coverage of the semi-finals and finals of the Girls, Boys, Women's and Men's WDF World Championships on Saturday, December 7th and Sunday, December 8th.
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Interested parties can also follow the tournament via a live stream. All operations will be broadcast on the YouTube channel of GREAT! game. This means that anyone with an Internet connection can watch all 10 tournament days for free, no matter where they are in the world.
Distribution of prize money at Lakeside 2024
The total prize pool for the WDF Lakeside World Championship includes £221,000 in prize money. That is a lot less than in 2023, when it was £257,000.
The main prize for the winner of the men's and women's tournament did remain the same. The winner in the men's will take home 50,000 pounds in prize money. The winner in the women's will receive a check for 25,000 pounds.
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Format
Gentlemen
First round: Best of 3 sets
Second round: Best of 5 sets
Third round: Best of 5 sets
Quarterfinals: Best of 7 sets
Semifinals: Best of 9 sets
Final: Best of 11 sets
Ladies
First round: Best of 3 sets
Second round: Best of 3 sets
Quarterfinals: Best of 3 sets
Semifinals: Best of 5 sets
Final: Best of 7 sets
WDF World Championship 2024 schedule
Saturday, December 7
Afternoon session (from 1 p.m.)
Paige Pauling v Jentl Fransen (HF girls)
Jenson Walker v Florian Preis (HF boys)
Sophie McKinlay v Lerena Rietbergen (HF ladies)
Francois Schweyen v Shane McGuirk (HF men)
Evening session (from 7 p.m.)
Sophie McKinlay v Aurora Fochesato (HF girls)
Archie Self v Lex Paeshuyse (HF boys)
Beau Greaves v Deta Hedman (HF ladies)
Paul Lim v Jason Brandon (HF men)
Kieran WoodDarts Journalist
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He contributes to DartsNews.com, where he covers professional darts through news, match reports, analysis, and live coverage across the PDC calendar and major tournaments.
A key part of his work is on-site reporting from leading events. Kieran has covered the PDC World Darts Championship in person, reporting daily from the venue and providing first-hand insight from the tournament. During his coverage, he has conducted interviews with leading players including Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, and Gerwyn Price.
He is also one of the leading voices of the English-language Dartsnews Podcast, contributing regular analysis and discussion on developments across the professional darts circuit.
In his reporting, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles when new, verified information becomes available.
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- Such a shame that lakeside has been reduced to this. Fantastic venue,and previously a great tournament. Not any morerick6703-11-2026
- Seems to me that the top 16 players pick and choose whatever they want to play. Good,all the money will get spread out more. They get more money from exhibitions than tournaments so let them all withdrawrick6703-11-2026
- Play all legs and the winners split the pot. Luke gets the lot of he wins them all. If your occupation is darts player you can't enter, regardless of ability.BandB01-11-2026
- I'm quite a jaded person all things considered, but to be honest I found Beat Luke Littler to be pretty entertaining. It certainly wasn't seamless, which is to be expected given the lack of precedence, but I actually think the pacing was pretty good, the production was impressive, and there was a good sense of humour and levity to it. I think it was a very ambitious undertaking but one that, for the most part, paid off. I liked the system with the four pots and I think it added to the drama and intrigue. I enjoyed seeing the diverse range of entrants and learning about their backstories. I think the interactivity was pretty clever and well-integrated. The panel was a little incoherent at times; Lee Mack shone however, and his improvisational skills were appreciated during some more awkward interstitial moments. As far as the darts is concerned, it was a shame that the format didn't allow Littler to get into full flow. You obviously don't want him to steamroll everyone but you want to feel like you're getting the full Littler package rather than seeing him struggling to get out of first gear. I will say that his leg against Jayden Walker was very impressive, but it was mostly downhill from there. The attraction revolves around Littler being this untouchable, indomitable force, yet the format doesn't really allow him to fulfil that characterisation. As for Fallon Sherrock, she was mightily impressive and deserved the victory. It is a testament to her unshakeable character that she was able to bang in a 14-darter under such mind-bending pressure. Everything that has been said about the misleading marketing is valid, though they were clear about their eligibility criteria and were able to offload the responsibility somewhat by bringing the viewers into the decision-making process in real time. What is clear though, is that Fallon played the game according to the rules, and she should not be criticised for that, much less abused. I will admit though that it is a kick in the teeth for those true amateurs who committed time and money to the course, and I would also question those who think pub players would have no chance, given that some of Littler's winning legs were dispatched in 7 visits to the board! The great thing about darts is that it isn't so much that amateurs cannot replicate the feats of brilliance pulled off by professionals of the sport, than it is that they simply cannot replicate the consistency of their output, something that this format almost entirely removes from the equation. It should also be noted that, financially, Fallon certainly stands to benefit much less in relative terms from the paycheque than would your average pub thrower, as I'm sure she nets a fair income from the lucrative exhibition circuit alone. What I do hope is that she might use this as an opportunity to really build up a head of steam heading into the new season, as it seems long overdue that she come through Q-School and really take it to the pros on a week-in week-out basis, but whatever she chooses to do, she has certainly achieved enough already for one if not several lifetimes, so who am I to dictate terms? To conclude though, I will state once again that I found Beat Luke Littler to be a pretty enjoyable evening of entertainment. I do feel for the contestants who never actually had the chance to try their luck against the world #1, although I suppose it comes with the format, but all which inevitably raises the question: will Netflix be tempted to do it all again next year? It's hard to say. Whether it would be financially viable, I can't weigh in there. One point I have been making though, and which I touched on earlier, is that the entire concept relies on a public perception that Littler is more or less unbeatable, and that certainly hasn't been the case of late. If the execs had been trying to pitch the show in recent months while Littler has seemed vulnerable, rather than when he was mopping up almost every major title on the calendar, it would certainly be a tougher sell. We will have to see in about 6 months' time whether Littler can still reliably command perception as a near-unstoppable force in darts, and then we'll have a clearer idea about whether we should expect a second helping. Even as a one-off experiment though, and with all the controversy taken into account, I still don't think they disgraced themselves by any means, and that will probably be my lingering assessment of the event when all is said and done.Deduce635801-11-2026
- Fair play to Fallon. But...shows the mockery when a professional players wins what was meant to be an amateur v Pro event, Littlers performance was poor, and what about the players who didn't get a game? Would have been better if the pot was split amoungst all the winners and they all got a leg.BandB31-10-2026
- Not even slightly interestedrick6730-10-2026
- And yet the PDC has decided to aggravate this problem by doubling the Players Championship Finals field from 2027. I can't imagine there will be fewer withdrawals next year with even less reason to turn up. I can only hope that a whole slew of Challenge Tour top-up players receive enough prize money in the absence of much of the elite, that some of the more complacent among them struggle to scrape into even a heavily diluted field! More semi-pro players will get to test their mettle, but the standard of competition will be much inferior. It could hardly be said that the Players Championship series will provide an opportunity for darts' second string to test their Tour Card credentials anymore, but at least it will underscore the achievements of those Challenge Tour players of current and previous years, who were able to prove themselves as more than capable of competing with, and beating, the elite of the sport on a consistent basis, and reaping the due rewards.Deduce635828-10-2026
- No point in being there? Champions want to win.Deduce635828-10-2026
- Littler lost to crabtree in the youth/junior/whatever you call it. He had no point in being there. He's unfortunately now got to the stage,he feels all he has to do is get on the stage to win. Well,I hope he realises part of his fear factor has gone. Happened to Taylor,then van gerwen,and it's causing him to realise pretty sharp,he isn't unstoppable. It's good for the sport,not 1 single player in my 60 years has ever,or will ever be, unbeatable.rick6725-10-2026
- I think it's great to see Mark Webster looking good,good ladrick6725-10-2026