Title favourites Luke Littler and Michael Van Gerwen are aiming to set-up a heavyweight Final at the Ally Pally.
Just four remain in the Paddy Power World Championship and now it’s semi-finals night in the chase for the Sid Waddell Trophy. Van Gerwen is the highest seeded player remaining in the tournament and the No.3 ranked Dutchman takes on Chris Dobey. A win for the Dutchman would see us halfway to the final lineup many predicted before the first arrow was thrown.
Littler, however, is the odds-on championship favourite with the bookmakers and has a clash against Stephen Bunting in his bid for Friday night’s showpiece. He reached the fial last year in a stunning tournament debut but fell just short against Luke Humphries. But with the holder already out, can the Nuke go one better this time around? Record Sport guides you through the when and who for a huge afternoon and evening of darts in the sport’s biggest tournament.
Semi-final session 7.30pm
Chris Dobey v Michael Van Gerwen
It is a first semi-final appearance for the Geordie who has really blossomed during the tournament. Dobey’s early competition form was a mixture. There were encouraging signs in his opening game against Alexander Merkx, but the doubling was hit-and-miss. The all-round game was in place through a sparkling success over Josh Rock in round three when he was much more lethal.
Unfortunately the problems on the outer-ring resurfaced against Kevin Doets when he missed 45 doubles. However, Dobey worked on it before facing Gerwyn Price and was excellent in fighting back from 2-0 down to win the quarter final. The Green Machine has got better and better with each match. is opening victory over James Hurrell was a formality before big questions were asked in the success over Brendan Dolan.
Van Gerwen stepped up again in the triumph over Jeffrey De Graaf where he averaged over 102 and the performance against Callan Rydz was spectacular. Whenever asked big questions by Dobey’s Bedlington pal, Van Gerwen had the answers and he strides into this semi-final brimful of belief. Van Gerwen also has three titles on the CV and that experience could be absolutely crucial.
Stephen Bunting v Luke Littler
The Bullet has been sparkling and his run has taken him up to World No.5. He was tipped to have a deep run in the competition and has lived up to the billing. He dropped just two sets in dismissing Kai Gotthardt, Madars Razma and Luke Woodhouse in his first three outings.
The Scouse star averaged mid-90s over those games with strong finishing and was able to back it up against a resurgent Peter Wright in the last eight. Nonetheless, Littler has been the man to beat in the Championship since the exit of Humphries and he’s shown impressive facets to his game.
The Nuke has the ability to hit a power button and get himself out of any danger and has had to display that trait having been pushed and tested in his trio of outings against Ryan Meikle, Ian White and Ryan Joyce. Nathan Aspinall offered some questions in the last-eight game, but, again, he was able to stave it off with strong scoring.
Littler was not able to take out big and stylish finishes and there were not many huge out-shots, but his power scoring meant it was mainly a two-digit ending to the legs. Littler has yet to hit top gear. It is coming and Bunting will know it.