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England Win Record Fifth World Cup of Darts Title

England Win Record Fifth World Cup of Darts Title

Alex Moss |

A WEEK IN DARTS – JULY 1, 2024 – HUMPHRIES AND SMITH LEAD ENGLAND TO WORLD CUP GLORY

It was all eyes on Frankfurt at the weekend as the PDC World Cup of Darts took centre stage. Here’s our recap of the last seven days in the world of darts…

ENGLAND BRING DARTS HOME AT WORLD CUP

Luke Humphries and Michael Smith lived up to their tag as favourites as they guided England to a record fifth World Cup of Darts title on Sunday.

The top seeds defeated surprise finalists Austria 10-6 in the final, held at the Eissporthalle, in Frankfurt, to seal England’s first World Cup success since 2016.

Humphries, the reigning PDC World Champion, was making his debut in the pairs competition, partnering up with the 2023 PDC World Champion Smith, who had reached the final with Rob Cross back in 2020.

Smith and his new partner Humphries went one better this time round, beating France, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Austria to become the first country to win five World Cup titles.

“This is the biggest buzz I’ve felt since the World Championship,” said the world number one Humphries.

“We really wanted this. We really believed we could win it, and when you’ve got the world number one and world number three playing together, it’s a bit of a cheat code!

“After that first game on Saturday we just clicked. We knew if we played our best we could win this title, and I just hope we get to come back to defend this title as champions next year.”

It was a second World Cup final in three years for the Austrian pairing of Mensur Suljovic and Rowby-John Rodriguez, with the duo losing out in the 2021 decider to Scotland.

After breezing through the group stages with wins over China and Guyana, Austria got past Chinese Taipei, Croatia and Belgium to set up a final showdown with England.

The Austrian pair are now provisionally set to feature in the Grand Slam of Darts later this year, which could be a huge boost in both players’ chances of retaining their PDC tour cards.

“We are disappointed to lose in the final, but we are happy with the way we played this weekend,” Rodriguez said.

“If somebody had told us before this weekend we would have made the final, we would have signed up for that, 100%.”

ITALY BREAK NEW GROUND IN FRANKFURT

It was a history-making weekend for Italy at the PDC World Cup of Darts as the team of Michele Turetta and Massimo Dalla Rosa steered their country to a first ever quarter-final.

Ahead of last year’s tournament, the Italians had never won a match at the World Cup, holding a 0-11 record, before breaking their duck with a group-stage victory against Switzerland in 2023.

But the new Italian pairing of Turetta and Dalla Rosa made a big impression in Frankfurt last week, seeing off the United States and Portugal to progress through the group stage for the first time.

And their record-breaking run continued on Saturday with a dramatic 8-7 triumph over former winners Australia in the last 16, before they bowed out in a decider to Belgium in the quarter-finals.

“This is very emotional. We have worked hard to arrive here, so it’s an unbelievable feeling,” Turetta said after their win against the Australians.

“We know that every darts fan in Italy will be having a big party tonight, but we are still pushing to improve.”

CHINESE TAIPEI IMPRESS ON DEBUT

Chinese Taipei made their mark at the PDC World Cup of Darts as they knocked out the Republic of Ireland to reach the knockout stages on their debut.

The duo of Teng-Lieh Pupo and An-Sheng Lu were making history as the first team to represent Chinese Taipei in the pairs tournament last week.

The big-stage newcomers caught the eye with two impressive wins in the group stages, getting past Lithuania 4-2 and then Ireland in a deciding leg to progress to the last 16.

Lu was the star of the show against Ireland, posting an individual average of 107 and checking out 132, before Pupo hit double six in the decider to win the tie.

On Saturday, the debutants saw their run come to an end with an 8-4 defeat to eventual finalists Austria, but it was still a memorable first outing for Pupo and Lu.

“It’s very exciting, we are making history,” said Pupo after their victory against Ireland on Friday night.

“That 132 finish was incredible. If he didn’t hit that we would maybe lose the game, but he is a fantastic player, and we are so happy.”

Pictures: Jonas Hunold/PDC Europe

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