Stephen Bunting Endures Major Fright while The Indian pioneer Creates History for India.
The tournament's fourth seed survived a monumental scare to move into the second round of the world darts championship on the opening weekend.
Bunting, who reached beaten semi-finalist last year, was taken all the way to a dramatic fifth leg by Polish qualifier Sebastian Bialecki before securing a hard-fought victory at the iconic Ally Pally venue.
An Eventful Battle
Bunting made a flying start, averaging an incredible 119.4 as he powered through the first set. The win appeared certain after checking out a spectacular 160 finish to claim the second set.
However, ‘The Bullet’ cooled off, and he managed just one leg over the next two sets. This enabled Bialecki – who remained unfazed even when a wasp landed on his shoulder – to pull back. Bunting regained his composure in the final set, but was still pushed to the limit before taking it 4-2.
“When you are playing at this venue you feel all the feelings,” Bunting stated on Sky Sports. “I was aware Sebastian was going to be difficult and even at 2-0 he kept fighting. I am lucky to come through that one.”
Kumar Creates Groundbreaking Victory
Bunting's second-round foe will be 'The Royal Bengal', who created a landmark by becoming the initial victor from India at the championship. He overcame the Netherlands' Richard Veenstra 3-2 in a closely-fought contest.
The veteran player, who had been defeated in all four of his previous first-round matches, implied this landmark win could have “opened the floodgates to a billion potential” darts players from his homeland.
“I don’t know today. I’m ecstatic, I’m delighted,” Kumar stated. “If you dream it, anything is possible. This vision motivated me ever since I watched Dennis Priestley win the World Championship.”
He joked with a light-hearted warning: “I’m sorry, ten years from now if you have eight people in the world championship entering to Indian film songs, don’t blame me.”
Additional Opening Day Action
- Darren Beveridge: The Scotland's debutant made an strong start, averaging 91.62 in a comprehensive 3-0 win over Belgium's Dimitri Van den Bergh, who managed just one leg.
- Jonny Tata: Another first-timer, from New Zealand, dashed the hopes of world No. 27 Ritchie Edhouse with a commanding 3-0 victory.
- Dom Taylor: The fellow newcomer defeated Sweden’s Oskar Lukasiak by the same 3-0 margin.
- Joe Cullen: The world No. 32 was in good form as he comfortably defeated Bradley Brooks 3-0.
- Wesley Plaisier: The Dutch player overcame Germany’s Lukas Wenig 3-1.
- James Hurrell: Concluded the evening's play with a 3-1 victory over American Stowe Buntz.
