Raymond van Barneveld has convincingly reached the second round at the World Darts Championship. The Filipino Lourence Ilagan was defeated 3-0.
For the first time since December 14, 2019, ‘Eye of the Tiger’ sounded like the attendance number of a darts match by Van Barneveld, who entered the stage of Alexandra Palace in London with a mouth cap for fear of becoming infected with the corona virus.
Despite a nervous start, Van Barneveld played stronger than his opponent. He took the first set without much effort. The difference became bigger in the second set and Ilagan had more and more trouble keeping up with the score. Van Barneveld won the set 3-0.
The third set also went to the Dutchman with little effort, although he missed many doubles. In the end, Ilagan could offer little resistance; he averaged 82.52 per three arrows. Van Barneveld came to an average of 96.7.
Five-time world champion
Van Barneveld is a five-time world champion and is therefore in second place in the all-time ranking. Only Phil Taylor has more (sixteen pieces). But in recent years the performances have become less and less, with the lowest point being the first round match of the World Cup in 2019.
