Irish World Cup duo William O’Connor and Steve Lennon were amongst the winners on Day 6 of the 2024 Paddy Power World Darts Championship.
The Magpie dropped no legs in beating Indian debutant Bhav Patel 3-0 in the penultimate match of the afternoon session, throwing a 98.74 average over the nine legs played.
The Winmau player took the opening set without missing a dart on the outer ring, hitting a 112 finish in the opening leg to break the throw. Willie broke again to win the first set before finding a 148 checkout on double 14, to increase his lead to 2-0 in front of a lively Ally Pally crowd.
O’Connor included a 75% checkout rate as he wrapped up the win on Double 10, hitting 1 180 and 12 140s in the 1st Round contest.
The Irishman will face Masters Champion Chris Dobey before the Christmas break, reaching the Second Round of a PDC World Championship for the 6th consecutive year and dropping just 2 sets in 6 matches.
William’s compatriot Steve Lennon produced a huge comeback with his PDC Tour Card on the line, recovering from a 2-0 deficit to defeat debutant Owen Bates 3-2 in the match before.
Owen making his debut at the Alexandra Palace included 2 100+ finishes whilst wiring the bull for a 170 outshot in the final set. Scuba Steve under the biggest pressure of all though recovered himself, finding a 118 finish to take the third set and break the throw.
The County Carlow player included 6 180s in North London whilst averaging 88.75 over 21 legs of darts.
Bates secured his place at the World Championship via finishing 2nd on the PDC Challenge Tour, showed few nerves right from the start. The 21-year-old can be proud of his first appearance and will see this is as a learning curve going forward into next year.
Lennon will face former Quarter Finalist and 9th Seed Jonny Clayton in the Last 64, with the match set to commence in the final afternoon session before the three-day Christmas break.
Elsewhere, Luke Littler put in a statement performance after beating 2012 Lakeside World Champion Christian Kist 3-0 in the evening session, averaging a staggering 106.12 with 7 180s.
The Nuke returns on Thursday to face UK Open Champion Andrew Gilding for a place in the Last 32.
Day 7 at the Paddy Power World Darts Championship sees the First-Round end, as Luke Woodhouse faces Challenge Tour Number 1 Berry van Peer in the final match of the round.
Thibault Tricole returns to face 2018 World Champion Rob Cross, whilst 10th Seed Damon Heta kickstarts his campaign in the evening session against Martin Lukeman.
12024 Paddy Power World Darts Championship:
Day 6 Results
Round 1:
Radek Szaganski 3-2 Marko Kantele
Steve Lennon 3-2 Owen Bates
William O’Connor 3-0 Bhav Patel
Ryan Joyce 3-1 Alex Spellman
Richard Veenstra 3-0 Ben Robb
Luke Littler 3-0 Christian Kist
Round 2:
Ross Smith (16) 3-1 Niels Zonneveld
Jim Williams 3-0 Peter Wright (4)
2024 Paddy Power World Darts Championship: Day 7 Order of Play
Afternoon Session
Round 1:
Micky Mansell v Xiao Chen Zong
Luke Woodhouse v Berry van Peer
Round 2:
Madars Razma (32) v Mike de Decker
Rob Cross (8) v Thibault Tricole
Evening Session
Round 2:
Andrew Gilding (20) v Luke Littler
Danny Noppert (7) v Scott Williams
Gabriel Clemens (22) v Man Lok Leung
Damon Heta (10) v Martin Lukeman
