Former Lakeside World Champion Steve Beaton opens his campaign on Day 5 at the 2024 Paddy Power World Darts Championship, as he prepares to face Dutch international Wessel Nijman in the opening match of Tuesday’s evening session. Steve will be competing in a 33rd consecutive World Championship and is delighted to be back at the Palace.
“It’s great to be back and I can’t believe it was a year ago. I’m really looking forward to getting out there.”
“I can’t believe this my 33rd in a row, I remember qualifying for my first but never thought I’d still be going now. Would be nice to have a run and show people how good I can play even at my age.”
The Bronzed Adonis comes into the Capital after pushing Gary Anderson all the way at the recent Players Championship Finals, again showcasing consistent form all through the year to qualify for the Alexandra Palace.
Beaton will want to put things right this time around, having fallen out of the competition early last year. The 1996 World Champion has reached the Last 16 on three occasions at the Alexandra Palace most recently in 2020, beating James Wade on route before the Christmas break 4 years ago.
The Bronzed Adonis takes on 23-year-old Wessel Nijman for the right to play former World Championship Semi Finalist Daryl Gurney in the 2nd Round. The Dutch international finished 3rd on the Development Tour Order of Merit and was given a spot at the Alexandra Palace after Development Tour Number 1 Gian van Veen qualified via the PDC Pro Tour.
“I don’t know anything about Wessel, so I will have to give him the greatest respect and presume he’s going to play well.”
The experienced Winmau player knows the difficulty of an opening match on the world stage but will be confident having been past the 1st Round stage 15 times in the PDC.
“The First Round is always the worst, obviously no one wants to go out in the opening match. I think it’s probably the hardest and if you get through it, then you can sort of relax a bit after.”
Fellow Winmau player Michael van Gerwen kickstarts his campaign for a fourth World title in the final match of the night against Keane Barry, with the rampant Dutchman taking the Premier League and the World Series of Darts Finals crowns in 2023.
By Harry Masterson
2024 Paddy Power World Darts Championship: Day 5 Order of Play
Round 1:
Steve Beaton v Wessel Nijman
Mike de Decker v Dragutin Horvat
Ricardo Pietreczko v Mikuru Suzuki
Round 2:
Michael van Gerwen (2) v Keane Barry
