LONDON — Canadian Matt (The Ginja Ninja) Campbell upset 13th-seeded James (The Machine) Wade of England 3-2 in second-round play Tuesday at the 2.5-million-pound ($4.25 million) Paddy Power World Darts Championship.
Wade, a four-time semifinalist at the world championship, becomes the first seed to exit the 96-player tournament at Alexandra Palace as Campbell won 1-3, 3-1, 1-3, 3-0, 3-1.
Campbell is ranked 57th in the world, compared to No. 13 for the 40-year-old Wade.
After losing the first set and going one leg down in the second, Campbell reeled off three straight legs to even the match. Wade won the third set before the Canadian swept the fourth to tie it at 2-2.
Trailing two legs to one in the fifth set, Wade had a chance to avert defeat but missed his dart and Campbell nailed a double-18 to win the match. The victory assured the 34-year-old from Hamilton of a paycheque of at least 25,000 pounds ($42,520).
"Amazing. I can't describe it," Campbell said when asked what he was feeling after the biggest win of his career.
Campbell had lost his four previous matches at the world championships before Sunday, when he held on to defeat Lourence Ilagan of the Philippines in first-round. He missed five match darts for a straight-sets victory, before Ilagan completed 100, 104 and 153 checkouts to push the match to its limit.
Campbell, a former World Cup of Darts quarterfinalist, finished off the Filipino with a match-winning 128 checkout.
“He came back and played well, but I still stayed strong and it was a good match," Campbell said afterwards.
Campbell’s first-round victory allows him to retain his Professional Darts Corporation Tour Card in 2024.
David (Excalibur) Cameron, the other Canadian in the 96-person field, was beaten 3-1 Saturday by England's Jamie (Yozza) Hughes in first-round play. Hughes won 3-2, 2-3, 3-2, 3-0 to register his first victory at the world championship in five tries.
Cameron, a 54-year-old from Fall River, N.S., made it to the second round last year.
The tournament, which runs through Jan. 3 at Alexandra Palace, has a first prize of 500,000 pounds ($850,420). Cameron collected 7,500 pounds ($12,755) as a first-round loser.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 19, 2023
The Canadian Press
