Paul Lim became the oldest player to win a match at the PDC World Championship as the 71-year-old claimed a stunning victory over Jeffrey de Graaf.
Backed by a partisan crowd at the Alexandra Palace, the Singapore veteran claimed a 3-1 success over the Dutch-born Swede.
He beat a record held by Northern Irishman John MaGowan, who was 67 when he knocked out Chris Mason in the first round of the tournament in December 2008.
“A moment like this has kept me going for all these years,” said Lim.
“The standard of play nowadays is not like how it was before. This tournament is the Super Bowl of darts so I would say this is a good moment.”
Lim will face Luke Humphries in the second round after the 2024 world champion progressed with a 3-1 win over Ted Evetts in his opening match later on Saturday evening.
Humphries had cruised into a 2-0 lead against his fellow Englishman before Evetts pinched a set back.
However, 30-year-old Humphries regained his intensity and clinically finished out the contest with an average of 98.58, throwing eight 180s.
Lim, who thew the first world championship nine-darter at the BDO event at Lakeside in 1990, beat Humphries when the pair last met at the Ally Pally five years ago.
On meeting again, Humphries told Sky Sports: “He’s amazing, he’s a legend. The crowd are going to be against me so it’s going to be a tough game.”
Lim said: “I hope on a given day it can happen again. I never give up. He is good but he can be beaten.”
The crowd roared on Lim, who is 72 next month, when he won the first set against De Graaf befofe his opponent levelled the match.
Lim went ahead again after a scrappy third set as De Graaf wilted while the experienced ‘Singapore Slinger’ held his nerve in a tense fourth, sealing victory with an average of 86.52.
Five-time world championship semi-finalist Wayne Mardle said Lim was able to “take his chances” against De Graaf to secure an “incredible” win.
“If you have the desire, the passion but most of all the ability humans can achieve amazing things – and that was amazing,” said Mardle on Sky.
De Graaf was six years old when Lim made his PDC debut 29 years ago.
Elsewhere, Wessel Nijman of the Netherlands eased to a 3-0 win over Czech Karel Sedlacek while Germany’s Gabriel Clemens beat American Alex Spellman by the same scoreline.
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