The Darts Shop

Veteran John MaGowan put his straight-sets triumph over Chris Mason at the World Darts Championship down to a spot of practice in his garden shed after winning his first-round clash.

The 67-year-old, who came through qualifiers last month to earn his place, outclassed Mason, a finalist in three PDC Pro Tour events this year.

A finish of 70 in two darts gave him the first set at London's Alexandra Palace before Mason found some form to run him close in the second.

MaGowan, who clinched the third despite missing four doubles, said: "It's my best win, certainly in a World Championship. I've been practising hard for this. I've a shed at home and have been in there ever since I qualified, and with plenty of local players too. "It's sharpened me up and that showed."

Finland's Marko Kantele, making his debut in the competition, beat Lourence Ilagan 5-2 in the final preliminary match to set up a clash with Ronnie Baxter.

Last year's surprise runnerup Kirk Shepherd is confident he can clinch the title. He said: "I was an unknown outsider but always believed in my ability and this year I'm looking to go one better. I gave up my job as a sheet metal worker to put in more practice."

He has a tough task in round one against Jan van der Rassel.

Adrian Lewis hit eight 180s in a 3-1 win over Russell Stewart, but said: "I lost concentration at times."

Well, despite all of the hype, and a valiant effort, Anastasia Dobromyslova, nicknamed "From Russia With Love", says goodbye to the Ladbrokes.com PDC World Championship.

Dobromyslova gaveRemco van Eijden some serious cause for concern during this fascinating encounter, but the Dutchman, also a qualifier, eventually picked up his game to win 5-3 in their preliminary-round match.

Dobromyslova gave a good account of herself. She came on stage to Girls, a Sugababes song, and each throw was accompanied by enthusiastic applause from the crowd. Van  Eijden fared less well and faced a constant, if good humoured, barracking. 

The crowd erupted when Dobromyslova took the first leg against the darts. But she then hit a rough patch, but clawed her way back to 3-3 to the crowd's great pleaseure. She also  threw a maximum 180 in the fifth leg, winning it in an impressive 13 darts — showing that she has the class and talent to play at this level.

She got close to forcing a tie-break but she narrowly missed an 81 checkout.

Dobromyslova and the Dutchman were evenly matched, both with averages of about 80, but it was her doubles that let her down.

We will see more of the Russian when she plays in a tournament in Doncaster next month. Dobromyslova switched to the PDC after leaving the  BDO this month. 

As far as other results for the day go:

Peter Manley, the No 13 seed and three-times finalist, was beaten 3-2 by Mensur Sulijovic in yet another surprise result.

 Andy Hamilton progressed to the second round in straightforward fashion, an average of over 101 leading him to a 3-0 win against Michael Barnard.

Wayne Mardle took a fairly easy scalp in his opening-round match against David Fatum, 'Hawaii 501' lost only one leg and ended up winning 3-0 and setting up himself up for a second-round meeting with Robert Thornton.

Denis Ovens beat Steve Maish 3-0.

Charles Losper won 6-4 in his preliminary-round encounter with Sudesh Fitzgerald.

Mark Walsh took a 3-2 win over Jamie Caven but, no doubt, was gutted to miss the double 12 which would have given him a 9-dart finish - the first in the history of the PDC World Championship - not to mention a very tasty £20,000 bonus.

Well, a bit of a shocker on the opening night as defending champion John Part was ousted from the championship on the opening night of the Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship. Not just beaten, but thrashed by qualifier Bill Davis.

Davis, an American from Philadelphia, saw off his Canadian opponent 3-0 in front of an excited crowd at Alexandra Palace.

Davis was obviously overwhelmed by his victory, and in an interview with Sky Sports afterwards he said: "It's just crazy, this is amazing. Anything can happen here."

Part, seeded fourth this year, won the title last year,his third World Championship title, beating Kirk Shepherd, but he was well and trylly thrashed in this years opening round.

Davis, 49, hit a 116 finish to win the first set 3-1, and Part, despite hitting 5 180s in three legs to also lost the second.

The American led 2-1 into the second before Part levelled, but a double 10 gave him the biggest victory of his career.

Part, as ever, was the gentleman in defeat: "I had a chance of a good run in this tournament but I never got going," he said.

"I didn't get out of the gate and you can't afford to turn up and not be at your best. I was prepared but it's too hard to narrow it down to anything specific." he added philosophically.

Other casualties included; sixteenth seed Roland Scholten, beaten 3-2 by newcomer Carlos Rodriguez.

England's Wayne Jones, the 25th seed, lost 3-1 to Scottish Order of Merit qualifier Robert Thornton.

The night's final match produced another surprise, with England's 24th seed Andy Jenkins sent crashing 3-1 by Dutch qualifier Co Stompe.