The festive season...
Paul Lim
Birthday: 25. January 1954Lives in: Singapore
Born in: Singapore
Nickname: Singapore Slinger
Darts: 21 g Target
Walk-on-Music: Walk of Life (Dire Straits)
The now 70 years old Paul Lim Leong Hwa was all of his live moving around the World. He was born in Singapore, lived and worked for some time in London, played darts for Papua-Neuguinea, lived for a long time in the USA, later worked and lived in Hong Kong and now is back in Singapore.
But no matter where he lived and worked, he always played darts there as well. He came in contact with the sport when he lived mid- 1970s in London where he trained as a chef and later worked as a chef in the Chelsea Hotel in Knightsbridge. With colleagues he went to the nearby Ropbin Hodd Pub - not only to have a drink but to play darts too. There was no league at the pub, but once a week a tournament was played, in which you could win a bottle of whiskey. Lim never drunk a lot, with the whiskey he won he provided his friends and acquaintances, The pub by the way still existst today - today it is called Conolly's Bar.
Cooking stayed indeed till today an important part of Lim's live though so far I couldn't track out somebody who actually ate what he cooked.
Of course at this time only steel-darts was played but Lim started to play soft-darts as well later, was for a long time one of the best soft-dart players in the world and worked some time as a consultant for Darts Live so that darts indeed was his job. During his time in the USA he played American Darts as well. But Lim always emphasized that he esentially is a steel-dart player.
From 1982 till the split in 1994 Lim took - with the exception of 1993 - part every year in the BDO World Championship. The quarterfinals were his best result during that time. Nevertheless he became a celebtrity , as he threw 1990 in the Lakeside Country Club the first ever nine-darter. It stayed the only one till 2009 when Raymond van Barneveld threw one during the PDC World Championship.
1994 Lim was one of the players who split of the BDO and founded the WDC (World Darts Councel now PDC) despite he was a close friend of Olli Croft, the BDO founder, and his wife. Lim never got further than the Last 16 in the PDC World Championship in which he took part every year from 1997 - 2002. After Lim had won the first big Dartslive Event in 2012, the PDC invited him to take part in the PDC World Championship 2013. Lim qualified again 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. During the World Championship 18/19 he almost threw another nine-darter. Since the fourth PDC World Cup of Darts Paul together with Harth Lim, with whom his is not related, takes part as Team Singapore. Lim has children of his own and his on Chris already won some tournaments.
2024 Lim qualified by the WDF Asia Ranking Table for the WDF World Championship and once again wrote history on the Lakeside stage, when he reached as oldest player ever who took part in a World Championship, the final.
And once again Lim due to his emotions, his joy in playing darts and due to the way he interacts with the crowd touched the hearts of the people.
In the "Ultimate Book of Darts" of American Anne Kramer, who knows Paul Lim quite well, you can find the following advice for other players from Lim:
Throwing darts is not a difficult thing to learn and do. But it is definitely tough to be good at. There are various points you need to look at if you are a beginner and want to learn the game or if you are an intermediate player and want to get better AND finally if you are a good player and want to compete. But please bear in mind all these steps (of want to be) strongly base on the foundation of your basic fundamental of throwing darts.
- Be comfortable in all sense (i.e. the grip, the stance, the balance, and the throw) you have to feel comfortable.
- Cut down, as many movements of your body as possible, do not use your body to help throw the darts.
- Learn the basic fundamental of a simple throw, using your upper hand, the throw with the wrist break and follow through with the palm facing down at the finish point. The follow through is the most important.
- Practice the follow through routine as much as you can, so that the throw becomes a memory (muscle memory). This will build consistency.
- Understand the line of throw and the flight path of the dart to the target on the dartboard.
- Do not find excuses of having no time to practice. All you need is fifteen to thirty minutes of throwing and yout can do it at home, so there are no excuses.
- When playing a match, throw the same way like you do during practice whenever and whoever you are playing against.
- Watch how your dart lands on the dartboard, because you can tell if you are releasing your darts properly or consistently from the way it sticks in the dartboard.
- Do not try to be to careful throwing because in doing so you will throw differently. Just look at the target, set up and throw. The more you think and analyze your throw the more damage there is. More simply, do not think too much.
- And last, enjoy the game. Have fun regardless. This is supposed to be fun from the start, so have FUN .and enjoy the game.
What the futurre will hold for Lim no one can say. Perhaps he'll qualifiy for more WDF World Championships, perhaps he' ll manage to qualify by the PDC Asia Tour for a PDC World Championship. Lim no longer plays on the same level as he did a few years ago, but perhaps he'll somehow manage to write even more history. What one knows is hat he plans to get children and youth in Asia more interested the sport and make it even more popular and no one could be a better ambassador for the sport than Paul Lim.
Paul Lim's Nine-Darter against Jack McKenna during the BDO World Championship 1990.