Paul Lim is used to creating historical past.
The 71-yr-outdated’s first-spherical win over Sweden’s Jeffrey de Graaf made him the oldest player ever to win a match at the PDC World Championship.
His newest inclusion in darts’ file books got here nearly 36 years after he grew to become the first participant to hit a 9-dart end at a World Championship.
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Next up for Singapore’s Lim is a second-spherical assembly with world quantity two and 2024 world champion Luke Humphries on Monday.
‘I’ve all the time loved it’ – the secret to Lim’s longevity
Lim stated he “never had any doubt” he would nonetheless be enjoying at this age, telling BBC Sport: “My passion for my darting career and the sport of darts itself – I’ve always enjoyed it.
“The ardour makes me wish to play, to practise and to decide to the degree that I feel I can really even be higher.
“Darts is not a sport where you need to be really strong. All you need is to basically be healthy. Longevity is something in darts that will be longer than a lot of other sports.”
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Lim first performed at a World Championship in 1982 and certified for his first PDC World Championship since 2022 through the PDC’s Asian Tour.
He narrowly missed out on qualifying for final yr’s PDC match however was invited to compete in the WDF model of the World Championship in December 2024. At the age of 70 – and at the identical Lakeside venue the place he hit his well-known 9-darter in January 1990 – he ended as runner-up.
Asked if the expectations he places on himself are completely different now, he stated: “In the early part of my career, I felt I had everything to lose. Right now, all I want to do is show up and play good.
“If I win, I win. If I lose, so be it. It’s a no-lose state of affairs. All I would like is the alternative to compete, present the world I can nonetheless compete and show inside myself that I nonetheless love the sport.”
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‘A second that modified my life’
Unless Lim causes some unbelievable shocks at Alexandra Palace over the subsequent few days, he’ll eternally be finest identified for finishing a nine-dart finish against Jack McKenna at the 1990 BDO World Championship at Lakeside.
Lim earned £52,000 for his second of perfection, that means he took residence extra in prize cash than that yr’s champion Phil Taylor.
“The £52,000 by no means got here into my head,” said Lim. “If I did give it some thought, I in all probability would have missed the final dart.
“I knew I was going to the nine-darter but the money was never in my head. My rhythm never changed, I never stopped and it turned out well.
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“It was a fantastic second and a second that modified my life.”
That prize money helped Lim start his own business – which prompted the question about what he would do if he won the top prize of £1m from this year’s World Championship.
“First and foremost I’d take care of my youngsters and I’d put it in a checking account for them and my granddaughters,” he said.
“I would hold some for myself however I do not assume I would like £1m at my age.”
A PDC world champion from Asia?
Mikuru Suzuki of Japan won the BDO women’s world title in 2019 and 2020 but there is yet to be a male world darts champion.
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“Ten years in the past, if I used to be on a avenue in Hong Kong and requested folks in the event that they knew something about darts, in all probability two per cent would say they’d seen it,” said Lim.
“Now it is completely different, you watch the illustration of gamers from every nation, like Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan. You ask anybody in Japan about darts, they know now.
“It’s becoming something where someone wants to be a good darts player, playing on a big stage for their country and for a championship.”
Will there someday be an Asian winner of the PDC World Championship?
“In the next decade, I think so,” stated Lim. “I reckon it’s a matter of time.
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“Once we will create, to illustrate 10,000 proficient gamers, out of these you will finally discover somebody who’s going to be actually good at it. I feel it is time.”
Humphries ‘was good then – now he is great’
Luke Humphries won the PDC world title in January 2024 and is currently the world number two [PA Media]
Lim met Englishman Humphries in the first round of the 2021 World Championship and, on that occasion, Lim was a 3-2 winner.
The odds of a repeat are unlikely, given Humphries – who is 41 years younger than Lim – has gone on to have a spell of nearly two years as world number one and won multiple major titles, including the world crown in January 2024.
“If something, I’m grateful for Paul successful that sport as a result of it modified me as a participant and it modified me as an individual,” Humphries said after beating Ted Evetts in round one.
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“Three months later, I’d misplaced about 4 stones and I used to be in a significant remaining [at the 2021 UK Open]. It helped my profession.”
On those comments, Lim said: “To come throughout a champion who’s as humble as him – when he stated that, it was actually a praise to me. I’ve bought nothing ever dangerous to say about Luke.
“With every defeat or every win, there is a spark somewhere – you’ve got to find it to spark you in the right direction. I can’t say that loss made him a world champion, but maybe it created that spark within himself to look at something differently and it turned out well for him.
“He is unquestionably a unique Luke Humphries. He was good then, now he’s nice. It’s an honour to listen to him calling me a legend.”
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‘A person who loved darts’ – Lim’s legacy
Lim had huge crowd support during his first-round win over Jeffrey de Graaf [PA Media]
When you are still playing a sport competitively at the age of 71, you will inevitably be asked how much longer you will keep playing for.
“I do not know when however, if I ever get up someday and say ‘oh, I’ve bought to go and play darts once more’, that is when I’ll give up,” said Lim.
“But I do know it isn’t that manner proper now as a result of days and weeks earlier than a match is arising, I get pumped and I’m excited.
“If I’m still excited about it, I won’t quit.”
And when the time comes, what will probably be Lim’s legacy?
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“I want to be remembered as a person who loved darts and spent my whole life with darts,” he stated.
“I want to be remembered as a player who enjoyed it so much that they spread it to other people. I never stop spreading darts to younger generations. Anyone who wants to talk to me about darts, I’m always willing to talk.
“I wish to be remembered that manner – as a really loveable darts participant.”