The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsWith the first round complete, we have our sixteen second round competitors that consist of thirteen seeded teams along with unseeded teams. In the second round, teams will choose which player will play first and second in singles matches that are best of four legs. If the match is a 1-1 draw after two matches, then a doubles match will be played as a decider.
Afternoon Session:
Brothers Kim and Ronny Huybrechts played well in their first round match where they won 5-1 against the Philippines, and will be aiming to continue this type of form here. Spain whitewashed Norway to get this far, and Cristo Reyes will be the danger man for them.
Paul Nicholson got better as Australia’s match went on against Russia on Thursday night as his quest to find top form continues, and he will be hoping to make progress in his singles match against one of the Gibraltar duo. However, if he loses, Simon Whitlock is in marvellous form and is more than capable of levelling the match. Dyson Parody played well on Thursday night, and will be their danger man.
New Zealand shocked Canada as they won a last leg decider on Friday night to get here, and they will be looking to cause another huge upset by beating Northern Ireland, who got this far by beating a battling Thailand on Friday night 5-2.
Hong Kong will play the Republic of Ireland in the final match of the afternoon session. The Hong Kong duo put in a fantastic performance in the first round to get here, and Ting Chi Royden Lam will be the one to watch out for in this one. The Republic of Ireland whitewashed Poland to get here, whilst Connie Finnan was good on the scoring William O’Connor was excellent on the doubles in the pairs match, and will be strong there should the match reach a doubles match.
Evening Session:
Scotland will kick off the evening session against Hungary. Peter Wright’s darts was the subject of discussion on Friday night, and although they put many off, they didn’t put the World number five off as he led Scotland to a first round win over Singapore. They will face Hungary who pulled off a shock win over Sweden in the first round.
South Africa came through a final leg decider against Finland to get into the second round of the World Cup, whilst dangerous Dutch duo Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld convincingly beat USA 5-2 to make it this far.
England’s Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis will be keen to claim their World Cup title back off the Netherlands and a solid start in the first round, and what was what they got as they whitewashed Denmark. They will face Japan, who enjoyed a whitewash as they beat China in the first phase.
Germany will take to the stage in front of their home crowd again in Frankfurt, and they will be full of confidence after Max Hopp and Jyhan Artut gelled perfectly in the first round as they beat India. They will come up against a dangerous Austria side consisting of Mensur Suljovic and Rowby-John Rodriguez.
