James Wade crashes out of World Darts Championship in second-round shock

Four-time semi-finalist James Wade crashed out of the World Darts Championship at the first hurdle as he was thrashed 3-0 by Jermaine Wattimena. Wade, the 16th seed, won the first leg of the round two contest at Alexandra Palace, but lost the next eight in succession as Wattimena turned on the style.

The Dutchman hit a superb 126 finish to move within one leg of victory and although Wade held his nerve to hit double 20 with his last dart to stay alive, the left-hander crucially missed four darts at double 10 in the next leg.

Wattimena, who reached the final of the European Championship in October, made no such mistake on double eight to seal a quickfire win.

Later on, former champion Gerwyn Price blitzed past Keane Barry 3-0 to secure his place in the third round. The Iceman – whose 2021 title win came behind closed doors at Alexandra Palace – had not reached the last eight at any major tournament this year, but wasted little time in racing through the opening set without dropping a leg.

Irishman Barry, who had impressed in his first-round win over Kim Huybrechts, finally got on the board after the break, but Welshman Price continued to find his range – although he did need double one on his way to eventually closing out the second set. Barry, 22, gave the crowd something to cheer when he took out 144 to level the third set at 1-1. It was, though, only delaying the inevitable as 10th seed Price finished up 56 to coast through to the next round which takes place after Christmas.

“I probably wanted to win that match more than any other match in my life,” said Price said on Sky Sports. “I wanted to enjoy Christmas, to just get away and get home. It didn’t matter how good or bad I played, I just wanted to get a win… and another tournament starts again after Christmas.”

England’s Luke Woodhouse enjoyed a 3-0 victory over Lourence Ilagan from the Philippines in the first round, although he was booed for turning down a chance at the highest possible checkout. Woodhouse, who won the first seven legs in succession before Ilagan finally got off the mark with a 103 finish, needed 170 to complete victory and hit successive treble 20s, but refused to go for the bull. The crowd made their feelings known but Woodhouse had the last laugh as he took out 32 on his next visit to seal a comfortable victory.

Germany’s Kai Gotthardt overcame a broken dart as he marked his tournament debut with a 3-1 win over Scotland’s Alan Soutar. The barrel of one of Gotthardt’s darts snapped in half during the fourth leg of the first set, won by Soutar, but Gotthardt stormed back to take the next three sets in succession.

In the first match of the day, Wesley Plaisier of the Netherlands recovered from 2-1 down to beat Japan’s Ryusei Azemoto 3-2 and set up a second-round meeting with former champion Peter Wright.

In the evening session, veteran American Leonard Gates produced a vintage display to defeat Scotland’s Cameron Menzies 3-1. Gates, 54, landed a monster 122 checkout, hitting two treble 18s, to seal his place in the second round with Menzies, partner of Fallon Sherrock, fighting back tears as his hopes slipped away.

Welshman Robert Owen secured his first win on the World Championship stage as he dispatched Niels Zonneveld 3-1 in their first-round contest.

Connor Scutt lost just a single leg as he swept past Ben Robb 3-0 with a match average of 101.92 to set up a second-round match against Australian number nine seed Damon Heta.