There are darting stories, and then there are full-blown melodramas carved straight from the granite of sporting chaos — and José De Sousa just delivered one of the latter. The Special One is heading back to the Alexandra Palace after coming through the World Championship qualifiers in Leicester by the absolute width of a wire.
Last year, the former Grand Slam champion was reduced to the role of spectator, pacing the sidelines while others took the spotlight. But this afternoon he roared his way back into the brightest lights the sport has to offer — surviving a last leg decider that was so tense it could have snapped in half.
For many tour card holders, this afternoon wasn’t just another qualifier. It was judgement day. A final, desperate attempt to reach North London, to keep their names on the sport’s most illustrious roll-call, and to cling onto their professional status for another campaign.
A place at Ally Pally means £15,000 in guaranteed prize money before a dart is even thrown — and the opportunity, however small, to launch a fairytale run through the million-pound tournament that defines darting careers.
Only five golden tickets were available. Five precious seats on the sport’s most iconic stage. And alongside De Sousa, the cast of qualifiers featured a trio of English talents and one fired-up Kiwi making waves on the international scene.
One of those through was young gun Tavis Dudeney, who banished Martijn Dragt’s hopes with a gritty display that belied his years. Also, Stephen Burton, a man who has lived several darting lives and refuses to stop writing new chapters, defeating Jitse Van der Velde in a showdown soaked in tension. Adam Hunt followed suit, edging out Poland’s Tytus Kanik in nail-chewing fashion to secure his spot among the elite.
Helping to fly the flag for the Southern Hemisphere was New Zealand’s number one, Haupai Puha, who survived one of three shootout legs on the day, clipping Brett Claydon at the very last heartbeat to seal his return to the big time.
But the headline story — the blockbuster, edge-of-your-seat, heart-pounding epic — belonged entirely to José De Sousa. At 6–2 up in a race to seven, De Sousa looked home and dry. He looked serene. He looked as if Ally Pally tickets were already printing themselves backstage. But Andy Boulton had other ideas.
The Scot mounted a comeback so ferocious it almost seemed scripted, clawing his way back leg by leg, moment by moment, dragging the match into a sudden-death decider that had every spectator shifting forward in their seat.And then came the final act — a leg that resembled a Shakespearean tragedy for Boulton. After nine darts each, the Scot was poised, perfectly poised, with the finish at his mercy.
But darts can be cruel. Darts can be merciless. Darts can twist fate in an instant. Somehow, impossibly, it slipped away. And José De Sousa, clinging to the match by nothing more than belief and instinct, seized the opening with both hands.
The Special One is back.
—–Ends—–
Images: PDC
