PDC World Darts Championship 2024 – Round 2 Preview

‘Cool Hand’ Luke On His Way

The World Championship is once again delivering everything that was promised: drama, the odd shock, and some relative unknowns announcing themselves on the biggest stage of all.

It seems baffling to me that Luke Humphries was the favourite to win the title before a dart was thrown, won his opening game without dropping a set, and is no longer the outright favourite – but despite winning three of the last four major titles, people’s opinions have evidently been swayed by a less than spectacular performance against Lee Evans.

If you have backed “Cool Hand” to go all the way though, I do not think you should be too concerned; he will return after Christmas and will more than likely be back at the brilliant level he has shown consistently of late.

Banana Skins

There is something to be said however, for players coming through adversity, and the defending champion Michael Smith was certainly tested in his opening match by Kevin Doets. Were it not for a magical 142 checkout from the world number one in the deciding set, there could have been a sensational upset to start the tournament.

The Asian players in particular have stood out. Hong Kong’s Man-Lok Leung was unbelievable in shocking recent European Championship semi-finalist Gian van Veen, hitting 11 maximums in an unlikely comeback from two sets down. While the Filipino players could not record wins (although Paolo Nebrida was arguably being the better player against former finalist Simon Whitlock), the emerging Japanese star Tomoya Goto looks like an excellent prospect. The 27-year-old overcame Ian White for the loss of just one set, after finishing second on the overall Asia Tour rankings this year.

History To Repeat Itself?

The temptation is to think that both men can repeat their heroics from the opening round, but that is no easy feat. They face gifted, but unpredictable opponents in Gabriel Clemens (Leung) and Ryan Searle (Goto), who have the propensity for the spectacular. Clemens’ run to the semi-finals last year made headlines around the world, but the subsequent 12 months have not yielded as rich a set of rewards as expected.

Conversely, Searle has been very efficient in winning the early rounds of major tournaments, hit his first televised nine darter at the recent Grand Slam, and has only been beaten by eventual champion Luke Humphries in the last two big events. I would have slightly more doubts over Clemens than Searle in their respective matches but would still expect them to bring both the Asia Tour players’ impressive debuts to an end in the last 64.

Weighed In/Wade Out

The first seeded player to fall in this year’s event was world number 13 James Wade, beaten by the excellent Canadian Matt Campbell, but there will be more to fall by the wayside before Christmas – the trick is trying to figure out where. I have already registered my concern over the fitness of world number 12 Dirk van Duijvenbode, and nothing I saw from Croatia’s Boris Krcmar (in a comfortable 3-1 win over Keegan Brown) has changed my opinion that Dirk faces a very difficult game.

There are some whispers that the Dutchman has been showing some good form in exhibitions leading up to his return to Alexandra Palace, but in his own words last month he admitted that he cannot envisage himself throwing a 100 average due to a shoulder injury. Krcmar remains my tip to make it through to the post-Christmas action.

Another seed in questionable form this year is the Latvian number one Madars Razma. Of all the top 32 players in the world rankings, “Razzmatazz” has the lowest win percentage, and that makes him vulnerable to the ever-improving Belgian Mike de Decker. “The Real Deal” has been on the up for some time, and the foundation of his success has been his heavy hitting in the 180s department.

Is De Decker ‘The Real Deal’?

There is no doubt in my mind that he should obliterate Razma on that particular score (Razma spends a lot of the time scoring on the treble-19 anyway) but I also think that De Decker has a very good chance of making it through to the third round. Should he prevail, his reward will be a meeting in the last 32 with defending champion Michael Smith – a player he has beaten in their last three meetings, including twice on the big stages of the European Tour this year.

De Decker was impressive in his opening round victory over Dragutin Horvat, and he will need to impress again against Razma, but those games do feel like manageable steps to take in preparation for what could be the biggest moment of his career so far against “The Bullyboy” for a place in the last 16.