Motomu Sakai celebrated a memorable debut at the World Darts Championship. The Japanese impressed in sport and provided the best entertainment with gestures, facial expressions and dance. The show continued at the subsequent media conference.
It’s the colorful moments that make the Darts World Championship so unique every year. When unknown players step into the spotlight and, far from the impressive sporting achievements of Littlers Humphries or van Gerwens, fill the stage with their personality for an hour.
When both sport and entertainment come together in a special way, images emerge like those on Thursday afternoon when David Munyua perfected one of the biggest sensations in the almost 33-year history of the tournament. The first Kenyan at a World Cup won against the heavy favorite, Mike De Decker from Belgium, after being 0-2 down.
Previously, the fans at Alexandra Palace in London and millions of TV viewers around the world had already taken a Japanese World Cup debutant to their hearts: Motomu Sakai not only won his first match surprisingly smoothly 3-0 against the Frenchman Thibaut Tricole. The 28-year-old professional put on such a bizarre spectacle that he will not be missing from any review in the years to come. An appearance like one huge leap.
His walk-on song, the theme song of the Japanese magical girl anime Ojamajo DoReMi (the annoying witch DoRemi), set the bar unusually high on the bizarre scale. As a result, Sakai was never in danger of tearing it.
Before his match even began, a whole host of challenges awaited him. When he walked onto the stage, he tried to high-five the fans’ hands on both sides of the fan fence at the same time, despite the wide corridor and small arm span. And then there were all the autograph requests.
Sakai took his time and pen, drawing eyes into his carefully scribbled “Moto” and dutifully writing the name of his sponsor each time. The PDC employees responsible for ensuring everything ran smoothly became a little restless.
But no one could be really mad at the little Japanese in his green monster jersey. The spectators laughed and clapped and cheered him on. Sakai seemed unfamiliar with the proceedings. He was standing at the top of the stage, his opponent wasn’t there yet. So what to do? A dance seemed appropriate. So Sakai ran across the podium, wobbled, waved and at the end of his freestyle went into a kind of moonwalk. It had something of the Neururer shuffle from 2004. Except that the VfL Bochum football coach didn’t make such strange faces during his dance performance.
“I believe that the more I dance, the better my arrows fly,” he later explained. And no one could contradict him. After his impressive sporting performance, the arguments were on his side.
Sakai impresses with two high finishes
After winning the first set 3-2, he celebrated with the spectators, who were fully on his side from the start, and thanked the callers and writers with a bow. He started dancing again, jumping, laughing and returning the audience’s support with greetings from the stage. It seemed like he wanted to shake hands with each fan individually. But there was simply no time for that – even though it was now a break.
After the first interruption, the next problem: Sakai stood unsteadily at the bottom of the stage stairs. Was he allowed to go back up again? No, he actually had to, as he was hastily informed. Once at the top everyone waited for him to complete his nine test throws. But Sakai hesitated and finally asked referee George Noble.
“The Creature” showed more determination on the board. Two high finishes of 121 points in the first set and 148 in the second set took Alexandra Palace to the next level of enthusiasm. What is also striking is his excellent board management. Sakai proved to be a fast computer – something that is not a given for the Japanese who mostly play e-darts.
Above all, he lived the game unfiltered. Sakai had an extra dose of passion, which inevitably drew observers to his side. At the end of the second set, an additional half dozen photographers had positioned themselves to shoot the Japanese during one of his next performances. Yes, there were some good pictures to be taken that afternoon.
When he converted his seventh match dart and the duel was won, there was no stopping the 3,200 spectators, and Sakai repeated his now perhaps iconic celebration to the classic darts jingle. He bent his knees, leaned back and swung his arm out – “Död-dödödödööö–dödödödödööö – dödödödödööö” – and then powerfully shifted his weight forward and let his arm shoot up three times: “Hey! Hey! Hey!”
The party continued seamlessly behind the scenes. He screamed and sang into every camera of every cell phone that was shoved in his face. And the media conference was one of the most entertaining ever to take place at Alexandra Palace’s Palm Court.
He initially answered most of the numerous questions with gestures. A journalist wanted to know whether he had been nervous. Sakai mimicked his throw, shaking and grimacing. How does he feel about his next opponent? Sakai stroked his long imaginary beard, like the one his Swedish opponent Andreas Harrysson has: “I’m ready for him.”
Even his interpreter had to stop translating at times because he was laughing. But where did Sakai get his nickname? “I always make strange faces. That’s why everyone says I look like a creature.” A no-brainer.
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Finally the Japanese turned the question and answer game around. “Is there a karaoke bar in London?” For once he was serious, which was funny without any irony. He happily acknowledged the affirmation of his English colleagues and his facial expressions emphasized how hard he wanted to celebrate there. He now looked a lot like the drooling monster on his jersey. In any case, the anticipation for Sakai’s second round match is great. With everyone involved.
If Lutz Wöckener Not exactly trying out any sport on his own, he writes about darts and sports politics, but sometimes also about offbeat things like football.
Darts World Cup 2026, results, 1st round
- Callan Rydz (ENG) – Patrik Kovacs (HUN) 3:0 (3:1, 3:1, 3:1)
- Thibault Tricole (FRA) – Motomu Sakai (JPN) 0:3 (2:3, 2:3, 0:3)
- Ryan Joyce (ENG/24) – Owen Bates (ENG) 3:0 (3:0, 3:1, 3:0)
- Mike De Decker (BEL/18) – David Munyua (KEN) 2:3 (3:1, 3:2, 2:3, 2:3, 1:3)
from 8 p.m.:
- Jermaine Wattimena (NED/19) – Dominik Grüllich (D)
- Dave Chisnall (ENG/21) – Fallon Sherrock (ENG)
- Michael van Gerwen (NED/3) – Mitsuhiko Tatsunami (JPN)
- Krzysztof Ratajski (POL) – Alexis Toylo (PHI)
