Hopes of an historic American win at the PDC’s Betway World Cup of Darts were ended as Darin Young and Larry Butler slipped to defeat against #1 seeds Gary Anderson and Peter Wright.  Butler and Young have become something of a fixture here in Frankfurt, and this was their sixth successive appearance in the event.

Once again, they were faced with a very tough early draw, and a Best-of-Nine pairs format doesn’t give a team much time to recover from a slow start.  The Scots threw first, and held the serve with a routine 19-darter with their opponents sitting on 60.  A brace of 140’s got Young and Butler down to 60 in the second leg also, but it was too late, and a nice 13 (which could have been 11) gave Scotland a 2-0 lead.

A miss from 57 in the third allowed Wright and Anderson to make it 3-0.  The Americans held the throw to close the gap, but they were still a break down.  Another 13 from the top seeds made it 4-1.  A third 13-dart leg completed a tidy victory for the men from north of the border.

Japan provided the shock of the evening as they dumped #8 seeds Austria out of the tournament, while Brazil’s 5-1 triumph over Denmark could also be considered something of a shock.  The Canadian team of John Part and Dawson Murschell cruised to a comfortable win against the Italians, although there is plenty of room for improvement next time out.  To complete the first day’s action, Spain, Switzerland, Australia, and Wales all reached the second round.

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