Debutant Arno Merk made an exclamation mark at the start of the Darts World Cup in London. In the opening game of the XXL tournament at Alexandra Palace with 128 participants, the 33-year-old from Peine eliminated the Belgian Kim Huybrechts (40) 3-1 on Thursday evening. Merk dominated the duel against the former quarter-finalist for long stretches.
At the beginning of November, Merk was the eighth and last German to qualify for the highlight of the year in the final of the PDC Europe Super League, and he quickly created a highlight on the big stage of the Ally Pally.
Merk, once a participant in the BDO World Championships, threw the first 180 of this year’s PDC World Championships in the second leg. Huybrechts never found his game, Merk used his second match dart and will face former world champion Peter Wright (Scotland) or Noa-Lynn van Leuven (Netherlands) in the next round.
Gabriel Clemens starts on Saturday
Former World Cup semi-finalist Gabriel Clemens is the second German participant; the Saarwellingen native will be in action in the evening session on Saturday. The first round extends over nine days until December 19th. The world champion receives the winner’s check worth one million pounds. A total of five million pounds will be distributed, more than ever before.