On the fifth day of the BDO World Championships the second round of the men started and the last first round match of the women took place. Surprisingly there were several one-sided matches with clear wins and seven of the 10 male players averaged over 90.
The afternoon began with an all Dutch clash between Wesley Harms and Willem Mandigers. It was the closest men's match of the day. Till the 2:2 Harms and Mandigers won the sets alternating. Harms almost managed to draw 3:3 as well but couldn't hit his double 20. Mandigers used the chance and hit the double for a 4:2 win.
Really thrilling was the last first round match of the women between Trina Gulliver and Poland's Karolina Podgorska who took part for the first time in the BDO World Championship. Podgorska looked rather unimpressed and she won the first set. Gulliver answered and won Set 2. The third set was a head-to-head race into a Sudden Death leg. Gulliver had the throw and threw her best darts in this leg. With double 5 she got the win.
In the last match of the afternoon session last year's semifinalist Michael Unterbuchner came on stage and produced the first of three 4:0 whitewashes of the day against Welshman Wayne Warren. Warren had played the highest average of the first round but never showed the same form in this match. Unterbuchner won the first set and improved throughout the match. He never was in danger and finished the match with a 13oer finish. As the commentators meant after the match he had been typical German on his doubles - clinical and efficient.
The evening began with one of the upsets of the tournament so far - unseeded Conan Whitehead defeated number 1 seed Mark McGeeney 4:0. Whitehead just was the better player in this match - he threw the higher scores and hit his doubles much better - most of the time McGeeney only could watch and admire. Inly the last set needed a deciding leg. It was won by Whitehead with an 86 Finish for a 4:0 win.
Two Welshman met on stage next - Jim Williams and Dean Reynolds and the match probably was the most one-sided of the day as Reynolds only managed to win two legs. In the first set Williams had an outstanding average from almost 110 which dropped after this and he ended the match with an average just below 92. But even this was still almost 20 points more than Reynold's average - Reynolds had a pitch-black day.
The last match between two times Lakeside champion Scott Waites and Dutchman Richard Veenstra was one sided as well but at least Veenstra won the first set and forced set three in a deciding leg. Most of the time Waites dominated in he even hit in the penultimate a 160 checkout before he finished the next leg with a winning double 20.
Statistics - First Round Women
Ave | 180s | Points | Player | v | Player | Ave | 180s | Points |
72.51 | 1 | 6236 | Guliiver | 2:1 | Podgorska | 70.02 | 1 | 5905 |
Statistics - Second Round, Men
Ave | 180s | Points | Player | v | Player | Ave | 180s | Points |
92.61 | 2 | 11667 | Harms | 2:4 | Mandigers | 93.00 | 5 | 11749 |
91.54 | 1 | 7598 | Unterbuchner | 4:0 | Warren | 91.40 | 5 | 7312 |
86.73 | 3 | 7053 | McGeeney | 0:4 | Whitehead | 96.24 | 5 | 8021 |
91.83 | 5 | 6978 | Wiilams | 4:0 | Reynolds | 73.29 | 0 | 5326 |
88.35 | 3 | 9690 | Veenstra | 1:4 | Waites | 92.82 | 5 | 10427 |
Pictures Evert Zomer / BDO darts