Netherlands and Scotland progress at World Cup of Darts
Hosts Germany crash out in opening round
Friday 3 June 2016 10:46, UK
Scotland and the Netherlands both survived scares before securing their place in the second round of the World Cup of Darts in Frankfurt.
With the England pairing of Adrian Lewis and Phil Taylor not in action until Friday night it was the second and third seeds as well as hosts Germany who took centre stage at the Eissporthalle in Frankfurt.
The unique pairs format is in play in the opening round with a combination of singles and doubles matches coming into play as the tournament progresses but the opening two days will see all 16 matches played as pairs over the best of nine legs.
Bookmakers favourites and second seeds the Netherlands were the big names in action on the opening night and world number one Michael van Gerwen and his partner Raymond van Barneveld were far from their best against the Russian pair of Boris Koltsov and the unique throwing style of Aleksandr Oreshkin.
Van Gerwen and Barneveld were always in control having moved into a 3-0 lead despite being below par, but the methodical Russians stuck to their task and closed to 3-1 and 4-2 before Barney sunk the winning double for a 5-3 success.
Next up for the Dutch darting double act will be the Philippines who caused the shock of the opening round to beat the USA.
The American pairing of Larry Butler and Darin Young missed 26 darts at doubles and were punished by their opponents whose finishing was more ruthless, Gilbert Yuland the man to clinch a memorable win for his nation.
World champion Gary Anderson reached the final last year alongside Peter Wright but is playing with Robert Thornton for Scotland this year and they were eventual winners over New Zealand but the third seeds made hard work of things.
New Zealand's pairing of Warren Parry and Cody Harris took a shock 3-1 lead but Anderson and Thornton roared back to reel off four legs in succession and clinch a 5-3 win and a place in the second round against Norway who beat Gibraltar.
Dyson Parody led Gibraltan hopes of a strong showing at this year's event but an inspired Cor Dekker and his experienced partner Robert Wagner produced the second surprise of the night to wrap up a 5-2 win for the Norwegians.
Arguably the match of the night was the clash between Australia and hosts Germany, the Aussie pairing of Simon Whitlock and Kyle Anderson silenced a lively home support to wrap up a 5-3 first round success.
Anderson landed the winning dart and they will next face Denmark who emerged victorious from the battle of Scandinavia thanks to a 5-2 win over Sweden.
Belgium were the night's star pairing, Kim and Ronny Huybrechts producing a dominant display to average over 90 and see off Poland 5-1 to set up a second round clash with Hungary who opened the night in Germany with a 5-3 win over Thailand - Nandor Bezzeg sinking the winning darts.
You can watch all the action from Frankfurt on Sky Sports this week with the rest of the first round on Sky Sports 1 on Friday from 7pm. Or watch from £6.99 without a contract, on NOW TV
