2025 WDF Lakeside World Championship-Day 1

The Lakeside World Championship kicked off tonight, and sadly, we already have one American on the way home. Kevin Luke took on Sybren Gijbels, the Belgian responsible for his World Championship exit a year ago. Despite a brilliant effort from the former ADO National Youth Champ, Gijbels again proved too strong.

The man from Washington State was quickly into his stride, taking the first leg against serve by finishing 247 in six darts (180, 67). The next two legs went with the throw before Luke’s second 180 of the match in Leg 4 helped him secure the set. He took the first leg of the second, but some erratic scoring and more importantly, missed doubles, allowed Gijbels to win the next six legs to forge a 2-1 lead.

It got worse as the Belgian opened 1800, 100, 140 on his way to the first leg of the fourth set. This seemed to spark Luke into action, and three superb legs of 15, 15, and 12, coupled with checkouts of 120, 97, and 102, leveled the score. Unfortunately, missed doubles were to play a big role in the deciding set, and they came from the American. Gijbels kept hid head, and did what he needed to do to secure victory.

Paula Murphy, Aaja Jalbert, and Jeff Springer Jr are our next to take to the stage, all on Sunday.

The tournament is being streamed live on the WDF’s YouTube Channel, and live scoring is available at DartConnect

You must be logged in to post a comment Login