Singapore’s Paul Lim, 71, qualifies for PDC World Darts Championship
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With the top five from the PDC Asian Tour Order of Merit earning a ticket to the championship, Paul Lim held on to fifth spot with US$11,800 (S$15,150).
PHOTO: COURTESY OF PAUL LIM
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- Paul Lim, 71, qualified for his 15th PDC World Darts Championship after a dramatic finish in the final stage of the Asian Tour in Qingdao, securing a spot due to Ryusei Azemoto's victory.
- Despite his age, he reached the 2024 WDF World Darts Championship final.
- Featured in Sky Sports and The Sun, Lim, who hit a nine-dart finish in 1990, aims to win the PDC Asian Championship for a Grand Slam of Darts invite.
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SINGAPORE – Veteran darts player Paul Lim continues to defy his age to write more chapters in his career, as the 71-year-old Singaporean has qualified for his 15th Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) World Darts Championship.
With the top five from the PDC Asian Tour Order of Merit earning a ticket to the Dec 11-Jan 3 world championship in London, Lim held on to fifth spot with US$11,800 (S$15,150), just US$200 ahead of Hong Kong’s Hugo Leung after a dramatic end to the 28th and final stage in Qingdao, China on Sept 13.
After getting knocked out in the last 16, he needed fourth-placed Ryusei Azemoto to beat seventh-placed Filipino Paolo Nebrida in the semi-finals and sixth-placed Leung in the final. Japan’s Azemoto delivered to send Lim through to the £5 million (S$8.7 million) event, where first-round losers will pocket £15,000.
Lim will be joined at the world championship by Filipinos Alexis Toylo, Lourence Ilagan and Japan’s Motomu Sakai and Azemoto.
He told The Sunday Times: “Put the big money aside, it is always an honour to qualify and play against the best in the world.
“I have to thank Azemoto because I could have been sixth and missed the boat. But I have been fighting since the start of the Asian Tour in January and playing each stage like it is my last, and it gives me great personal satisfaction to know I am still able to make it to the big stage.”
Lim’s feat made headlines in British media outlets Sky Sports and The Sun, as he continues to stay competitive in an era dominated by the likes of 18-year-old world champion Luke Littler
The Singaporean played his first world championship in 1982 when it was still under the British Darts Organisation. He competed in 12 editions and most memorably hit the event’s first perfect nine-dart finish in 1990 when he made the quarter-finals, before switching to the PDC in 1997.
At the PDC world championship, his best finish was the second round in 2001, 2018 and 2021, when he eliminated Englishman Luke Humphries, who would go on to be world champion in 2024. His last appearance in the event was in 2022.
At 70, Lim made a sensational run to the final of the World Darts Federation world championship
But the commitment to give his best effort remains after more than five decades in the sport. He said: “I will prepare and condition myself properly, and once the draw is out, I will plan to arrive three to four days in advance of my first match to get over the jet lag and get ready to do the best I can.”
For now, Lim will remain in Qingdao, where he has his sights set on winning the Sept 13-14 PDC Asian Championship – he is through to the top eight.
A consultant for electronic darts organisation Dartslive, Lim added: “The winner will earn an invite to the 32-man Grand Slam of Darts, which will be another big achievement for me if I can qualify for it for the first time.”
