On the fourth day of the BDO World Championships in the Lakeside Country Club the first round of the Men was played to the end. Reigning champion Glen Durrant made his first appearance, but some other players stole him the show.
The afternoon session started with an upset - Pole Krzysztof Kciuk defeated number 11 seed Dave Parletti 3:1. It was not really a high-class match but Kciuk deserved the win. He kept his nerve and hit the important doubles. Parletti on the other side played under par in his Lakeside debut.
In the next match it was Scott Mitchell who played the highest average of the day and showed an impressive performance against Serbia's Oliver Ferenc. Ferenc couldn't keep up the form he showed in his preliminary round match and was steam rolled by Mitchell in the first two sets. Finally in the third set he managed to win his only two legs but Mitchell was too strong for him and marched without problems 3:0 over the finishing line.
The ladies match of the afternoon was dominated by Aileen de Graaf and Paula Jacklin only won a single leg. Last year we did see the same match and de Graaf was a 2:0 winner as well. This year both players averaged slightly higher but it still was not a good match.
In the last match of the afternoon followed the next upset and Ross Montgomery was destroyed by Scott Baker 0:3. In the first two sets the Scotsman was not in the match at all. The last set was hard fought and ended in a deciding leg in which the unexperienced Baker kept his nerve and hit a 103 Finish for the win.
In the first match of the evening reigning champion Glen Durrant came on stage to play against New Zealand's Mark McGrath. McGrath had won his preliminary round match against Adam Smith-Neale 3:0 but against Durrant he had no chance at all. At least he managed to win one leg in the second set with a 122 checkout and two more legs in the third set which forced Durrant to take out 116 points to get 3:0 over the finishing line. Durrant showed a solid performance against a clearly weaker opponent.
Both Lorraine Winstanley and Casey Gallagher who came on stage next were far from their top form. The match developed in an evenly matched and epic ladies match in which both players had problems with their scores and with their finishes. Gallagher threw the only 180 of the match; Winstanley hit a few good finishes and won in the end 2:1 with an average just below 70.
Surprisingly the following match between the Dutchman Chris Landman and Kyle McKinstry from Northern Ireland developed in something like the match of the day. Landman throws fast with some body movement and walks fast to the board and back. McKinstry takes his time to focus before each throw and didn't get worked up by Landman's speed which in the end payed off - he won an epic and thrilling close game 3:2 just before it went into a tiebreak. McKinstry averaged 91.17 - the third over 90 average of the day.
The day ended as it had started - with an upset. Canadian David Cameron threw Gary Robson out of the tournament. Cameron played an outstanding first set and it looked Robson never recovered. He managed to win the second set to draw 1:1 but all in all he played too weak to be a danger for Cameron which showed in his average. Robson's average was with 74.78 the second lowest of the now completed first round. Cameron progressed for the first time into the second round of the World Championship.
Statistics - Women
Ave | 180s | Points | Player | v | Player | Ave | 180s | Points |
72.12 | 1 | 3798 | De Graaf | 2:0 | Jacklin | 65.34 | 1 | 2178 |
69.24 | 0 | 6163 | Winstanley | 2:1 | Gallagher | 71.46 | 1 | 6312 |
Statistics - First Round, Men
Ave | 180s | Points | Player | v | Player | Ave | 180s | Points |
83.82 | 2 | 7376 | Parletti | 1:3 | Kciuk | 85.92 | 1 | 7619 |
94.65 | 2 | 5300 | Mitchell | 3:0 | Ferenc | 85.59 | 0 | 4651 |
79.24 | 0 | 5498 | Montgomery | 0:3 | Baker | 83.16 | 2 | 5822 |
93.90 | 7 | 5759 | Durrant | 3:0 | McGrath | 82.89 | 1 | 4918 |
89.01 | 3 | 9880 | Landman | 2:3 | McKinstry | 91.17 | 5 | 10180 |
74.28 | 1 | 5799 | Robson | 1:3 | Cameron | 89.64 | 3 | 7202 |
Pictures with kind allowance of Evert Zomer / BDO darts