Fairy tale ends for Singaporean darts duo
Singapore's brave run at the World Cup of Darts in Frankfurt, Germany, came to an end at the quarter-final stage after Paul Lim and Harith Lim lost 2-1 to Belgium yesterday.
They were once again on the brink of another memorable upset, pushing eighth-seeded Belgian brothers Kim and Ronny Huybrechts all the way in the best-of-three series.
World No. 12 Kim had a sterling first singles match against Paul, 63, averaging 121.97 off three darts and nailing four 180s (all three darts in the highest-scoring triple 20 segment in one round) as he won 4-1.
But Harith, 47, then lived up to his claim as the "best supporting actor" when he pulled off a 4-2 win over world No. 44 Ronny in the next match to set up a deciding doubles match against the Belgians, who were beaten finalists in 2013 and semi-finalists in the last two years.
SHOCKWAVES
However, after starting brightly with a 180 en route to winning the first leg of the doubles, Singapore faded, allowing Belgium to take control and win 4-2.
But the unranked duo of Paul and Harith will return home with their head held high, after pulling off sensational victories over top seeds Scotland (5-2) and Spain (2-1) in the opening rounds.
Most remarkable was their triumph over world No. 2 Scotsmen Gary Anderson and No. 3 Peter Wright in the first round of the 32-country tournament, which sent shockwaves throughout the global darts community and earned them global headlines.
The last eight is the furthest Singapore have progressed in the competition and the duo will bank £14,000 (S$24,930) for their effort.
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