The English and defending champions Scotland, who were in first place, performed their duties at the start of the darts team world championship with ease.
The English duo of Michael Smith and James Wade defeated the Czech Republic 5-1 in doubles in Frankfurt am Main and advanced to the round of 16. The Scots Peter Wright and John Henderson then defeated Hong Kong 5:1 and took the first step towards defending their title.
The series of favorites continued in front of around 2000 spectators. All title contenders, including Germany (Gabriel Clemens, Martin Schindler), had already prevailed on Thursday.
On Saturday (1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.) the round of 16 will take place in the ice rink. Germany meets Denmark. England (against Latvia) and Scotland (against Portugal) are each separated by a win from the British duel, which would already take place in the quarter-finals.