Oldest man in darts world championship final, Singapore’s Paul Lim, 70, gets a silver

SINGAPORE – Paul Lim fell short in his bid for a fairy-tale finish on Dec 8, but the 70-year-old Singaporean’s legend continues to grow with a valiant display in his 6-3 final loss to Ireland’s Shane McGuirk in the WDF World Darts Championship.

Before picking up his £16,000 (S$27,365) runner-up’s cheque, the Singaporean said: “I was down, but I never gave up. It’s the same in life – never give up. I’ll be back next year.”

First held in 2022, the world championship is in its third edition, replacing the British Darts Organisation event following the latter’s collapse in 2020. There is a separate Professional Darts Corporation World Championship with a £2.5 million prize purse that is played at Alexandra Palace in London from Dec 15 to Jan 3.

Cementing his place in the £221,000 event as an Asian qualifier after he defended his Ulaanbataar Open title in June, Lim was a 150-1 outsider going into the tournament at the Lakeside Country Club in Surrey, England.

But the man known as the Singapore Slinger captivated the darting world by becoming the oldest world championship finalist, beating opponents who are young enough to be his grandchildren along the way.

Most of them were not even born when he made his world championship debut in 1982 at the same venue. Then he was the first player in the competition’s history to complete a perfect nine-darter to run down 501 points to exactly zero when he achieved the feat in 1990 and won £52,000.

In an arena filled with 1,000 raucous fans in fancy dress chugging beer, Lim rolled back the years and gave them an early buzz by nailing a double 20 to take the first leg, before a double eight gave him the third leg and a 2-1 lead in the opening set.

With players winning a set by claiming three legs, he then missed four attempts at the double to take down the fourth leg, and things quickly went downhill from there as he lost the first set 3-2.

After overcoming initial nerves, the gum-chewing McGuirk began replicating the devastating 180s and finishes that helped him win 17 straight sets without dropping any en route to the best-of-11 set final.

In a flash, the 29-year-old extended his streak to 21 straight sets on the back of a 53 per cent checkout conversion rate in the second to fourth sets, in which Lim could pinch just three legs.

But the sentimental favourite refused to roll over, getting on the scoreboard and erasing McGuirk’s perfect record by taking the fifth set 3-2.

The Irishman retaliated to clinch the sixth set, but the Singaporean kept fighting, producing stirring 100-plus finishes to win two more sets.

But eventually the wobbling McGuirk got over the finish line to claim the £50,000 top prize after Lim missed opportunities to take the match past three hours.

Aided by a regimen of swimming, golf, and darts training for up to four hours a day, septuagenarian Lim had looked energetic despite a week-long campaign.

To get to the final, he took out the Netherlands’ Moreno Blom (2-0), Hong Kong’s Leung Kai Fan (3-2), Scotland’s Gary Stone (3-2), another Dutchman Jarno Bottenberg (4-3), before cruising past American Jason Brandon (5-0).

Remarkably, Lim’s average for every three-shot visit during the final was 83.76, which is higher than any of his averages in the three matches during his quarter-final run in 1990 – he lost to a better player who averaged 90.31.

Ireland’s first darts world champion McGuirk paid tribute to Lim, and said: “The first set was nervy for both of us and I got away with it. After that, I kind of settled. Then, I cruised a wee bit and he started fighting back. He put me under pressure, he switched to the 19s and couldn’t stop hitting them.

“I just kept thinking to myself, ‘I have the lead, I have the start I needed, just keep going, and eventually it will come. Just come out swinging and try to get this over and done with’.”

In the best-of-seven-set women’s final, 20-year-old Beau Greaves from England beat Scotland’s 18-year-old Sophie McKinlay 4-1 to win her third consecutive world title and £25,000.

McKinlay had earlier lost 2-0 to England’s 16-year-old Paige Pauling in the girls’ final, while in an all-England boys’ final, Archie Self, 15, edged 18-year-old Jenson Walker 3-2.