Chuck Puleo’s World Championship challenge ended disappointingly early as Dimitri Van den Bergh grabbed a 3-0 victory.

The man from Arizona started in fine style, posting a maximum 180 on only his second visit to the board!  He had the chance to break the Belgian in the first leg, but two missed darts at the double proved costly.  Those proved to be the only darts Puleo shot at a double in the opening set.

Ven den Bergh took the first leg of the second against the darts, only for the American to break straight back with a nice two-dart check from 58.  Two legs on, and the PDC’s World Youth Champion was two sets up.

Despite the seemingly convincing scoreline, Van den Bergh wasn’t looking totally convincing, and Puleo was far from out of it.  After again losing the first leg of the set, a superb checkout from 102 (S20, T14, D20) pulled Chuck back to 1-1.  A nice 144 out (T18, T18, D18) when his opponent was poised to take the leg left Van den Bergh just one leg from a place in round two, but a tidy 15-darter (finishing from 66) made kept American hopes alive.

It really looked like we were heading for a fourth set as Puleo found a T18 first dart on 86, but he couldn’t hit the double.  One dart at tops was all Dimitri needed, and it was game over.

Not for the first time, missed doubles at crucial points proved costly for the U.S., but Chuck Puleo can be proud of his efforts.

Elsewhere, #13 seed Darren Webster dipped out to Vincent Van de Voort, while Sweden’s Daniel Larsson sent Robert Thornton tumbling out of the tournament.  Recovery of the day came from Japan’s Seigo Asada.  Pole Krzysztof Ratajski appeared to be cruising with a two-set lead, but Asada bounced back to take the glory.

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