Curious darts scene outshines even Gary Anderson

A booming darts legend and a Filipino bus driver with a pen in his hand characterize the second day of the World Darts Championship in London. Tonight, the first of five Germans enters the tournament.

At the end of a long evening of darts, it is well past midnight in Germany when Gary Anderson confirms his role as a serious title contender: the 2015 and 2016 champion wins his opening match at the World Championship in London against Australian Simon Whitlock with a straightforward 3-0 set score. Anderson landed the first "One Hundred and Eighty" on his first shot and dominated the first set at will. In the second round, Whitlock snatched his first leg, but the set also went to the "Flying Scotsman". The third set was close for the first time as Whitlock raised his level. But Anderson was unbeatable that evening, even in this phase, and made a big impression with a high finish to win 3:0.

Anderson had failed to beat Chris Dobey in his second match last year and had not exactly shown himself to be a fair loser. However, the 52-year-old Scot made a fresh start at the beginning of the year. Unlike in previous seasons, Anderson has hardly missed a tournament on the professional tour and can no longer be accused of being complacent. "I've said it many times before. I didn't want to play darts for the last three years. Now I'm enjoying the game again, whether I win or lose," said Anderson after his strong performance at Alexandra Palace.

Philippine debutant catches the eye with his pen

The approximately 3,000 spectators in the sold-out London darts stronghold had previously seen rather lean fare. It is quite possible that the first match of the evening - England's Jamie Hughes defeated Canada's David Cameron - will be remembered as the worst match of the World Championship at the end of the tournament.

The match between fast thrower Keane Barry from Ireland and Reynaldo Rivera was only slightly more high-class. The Filipino debutant, a bus driver in his normal life, played extremely slowly and, to make matters worse, missed countless opportunities to double field. What caused a sensation, however, was a thick pen that Rivera held in his hands throughout the game. Even the darts world championship, which is rich in curiosities, has never seen anything like it.

Held a pen in his hand throughout the match: Reynaldo Rivera (right)

The background: At local tournaments in the Philippines, there are usually no scribes to keep score. The players have to write down their points themselves after each shot. At the World Cup and all other professional tournaments, there are of course staff to do this, but Rivera obviously wanted to maintain his usual procedure as much as possible. It didn't help. Although Rivera's scoring was passable, the 45-year-old obviously had to deal with nerves when throwing the doubles.

When it came to his poor doubles rate, Rivera was in no way inferior to several of his rivals on this World Championship day: Cameron Menzies, who was still a beaming first round winner on Friday evening, was also eliminated against the favored Dave Chisnall, mainly due to a number of missed chances on the eight millimeter narrow doubles courts. "Chizzy" defeated the full-time plumber from Scotland somewhat luckily 3:1 and could be waiting for Gabriel Clemens after Christmas, provided Germany's best player wins his opening match next Thursday.

First German, top favorite and darts queen

The first of a total of five Germans will start the World Championship this Sunday evening. Florian Hempel from Cologne can count on the support of numerous German fans (20:15, Sport1/Dazn) - around a third of the tickets have been sold to Germany.

His opponent Dylan Slevin has played more consistently over the course of the year, but Hempel's form curve has shown a clear upward trend in recent months. "Slevin has his first professional year behind him and has got off to a good start on the tour. But there were certainly one or two names in the draw who are more difficult to play against. I'm hoping for the better end for me," said Hempel on the darts podcast "Checkout" in the run-up to the World Championship.

Luke Humphries' first match is also eagerly awaited. The Englishman is currently the measure of all things and goes into the World Championship as the top favorite after winning three major titles in the past nine weeks. His opening opponent Lee Evans should not pose any major problems.

In contrast, the match between Jermaine Wattimena and the "Queen of the Palace", Fallon Sherrock, is likely to be more competitive. The Englishwoman is one of two women in the 96-player field and is the only player so far to have won matches at the "Ally Pally". Four years after her memorable run to the third round, she rediscovered her form in the second half of the year in time for the World Championships. She has the crowd on her side against Dutchman Wattimena and doesn't need to hide her game either.

Germany's number two, Martin Schindler, will be watching closely. The world number 26 will face the winner of the match between Wattimena and Sherrock on Friday.