The Darts World Cup has seen its first 9-darter. Christian Kist played the perfect game. The fact that the fans went crazy for a second time shortly afterwards was due to a strange coincidence on stage. But the big winner of the evening was a railway employee from England.
Many fans held their hands to their heads, unable to believe what they were witnessing at the World Darts Championship along with 3,200 other spectators in the audience. Christian Kist stood on stage and his throws flickered into the hall on the video screen: triple-20, triple-20, triple-20, in the second recording the same maximum combination again, and then – actually – triple-20, Triple 19, double 12. The fans screamed in disbelief and threw full beer cups across the hall. The 9-darter, the perfect game. Again.
The Dutchman had already achieved the rare feat immediately before the first break of his first round match against the Latvian Madars Razma and secured the first set 3-2. Well, right after returning to the stage, the next one? This had never happened before. How could this happen?
The answer then trickled down to most people quite quickly. The second 9-darter was the first, shown again as a recording on the video screens. And since Razma and Kist were on stage at the same time throwing in their nine darts for the second round, large parts of the audience mistook the canned 9-darter for the live picture – a moment for the history books.
The evening will be unforgettable for everyone involved. But especially for a viewer. An Englishman won £60,000 thanks to Kist’s 9-darter. Tournament sponsor Paddy Power had offered a £180,000 bonus for the perfect game – a third for the player, a third for a cancer prevention foundation and a third for a fan who was randomly selected via an indoor camera.
Kris, the lucky winner, had received the ticket to Alexandra Palace from his grandparents for his birthday last week and was sitting in the audience with his grandfather. The 28-year-old works for the British railway and built a house at the beginning of the year. The money is coming at just the right time, he said. There might also be a bigger vacation in the mix. This is what he told the journalists while his partner tried to call him on a continuous loop. “I think I’ll have to get in touch with her first,” said the happy fan and laughed.
Kist also wants to use the extra bonus to treat himself to a special vacation, possibly in January. “Yes, the nine-darter was nice,” he said: “But I lost in the first round and so of course I’m disappointed,” said the tragic hero.
Kist therefore takes home £67,500. The fact that it wasn’t at least 75,000 pounds was down to Razma, who won the following sets despite a point average that was more than four points lower (90.65 vs. 94.90) and, above all, demonstrated good timing. “I have now confirmed my result from two years ago, although this year I had a few health problems and was able to train less. But I know that I can beat anyone again now. I’m happy to be here.” He will face Kist’s compatriot Dirk van Duijvenbode in the next round.
Unless Lutz Wöckener is just anyone Sport in self-experimentation tried it out, he writes about darts and sports politics, but sometimes also something off-kilter like football.
Darts World Cup, results, December 18th
1. Round
Jim Williams (WAL) – Paolo Nebrida (PHI) 2:3 (2:3, 3:1, 1:3, 3:0, 2:3)
Madars Razma (LAT) – Christian Kist (NED) 3:1 (2:3, 3:1, 3:1, 3:1)
Ricky Evans (ENG) – Gordon Mathers (AUS) 3:2 (3:1, 0:3, 3:1, 1:3, 3:2)
2. Round
Nathan Aspinall (ENG/12) – Leonard Gates (USA)
Darts World Cup, schedule for December 19th
1st round (from 1.30 p.m.)
Chris Landman (NED) – Lok Yin Lee (HKG)
Callan Rydz (ENG) – Romeo Grbavac (CRO)
Martin Lukeman (ENG) – Nitin Kumar (IND)
2. Round
Gabriel Clemens (D/27) – Robert Owen (Wales)
1st round (from 8 p.m.)
Nick Kenny (WAL) – Stowe Buntz (USA)
Mensur Suljovic (AUT) – Matt Campbell (CAN)
Scott Williams (ENG) – Niko Springer (D)
2. Round
Michael Smith (ENG/2) – Kevin Doets (NED)
