A World Darts Championship match was interrupted midway through when a player’s darts snapped mid-match.
Alan Soutar was taking on Kai Gotthardt in the opening round at the Alexandra Palace on the second day of action in north London.
Soutar had established a 2-1 lead in the first set when the contest had to be paused because Gotthardt only had two functioning darts.
Alerting referee George Noble, as well as opponent Souttar, Gotthardt had to head off stage to find a new pair of darts.
Speaking on Sky Sports, commentator Abigail Davies said: « Well Kai Gotthardt has got quite an issue here with his darts. It looks like something has snapped Laura [Turner]… it’s difficult to see into his hands, but it just looks as if the dart has snapped.
« He’s spoken to George Noble about it, you can see Alan Soutar saying the dart has snapped in half. He’s just gone over and having a word with the referees.
« A lot of players will take extra equipment onto the stage for scenarios like this, but can you just explain that scenario from a player’s point of view? Why won’t he have had that equipment up on stage? »
Turner, a professional darts player, replied: « Players will take spare bits, but depending on what’s happened to the barrel itself, some people don’t have duplicates for their own barrels, they have one unique set.
« I know players who have had the same set for 20, 30 years. It could just be that he needs to find another barrel. He needs to find one quickly ».
But while Gotthardt was off the stage tending to his issue, the crowd were keen to use the break in play to taunt Soutar.
A rendition of ‘Scotland get battered everywhere they go’ erupted inside the Ally Pally, with Soutar, who was born in Arbroath, was quick to see the funny side.
The Scot, with a beaming smile on his face, turned towards the crowd and opened his arms out wide embracing the taunts coming from the crowd.
It appeared to give him an initial boost, with the world No.50 taking the first set, but Gotthardt bounced back and took the following two sets to put him on the brink of the second round.
And it proved a gap too big for Soutar to challenge, as debutant Gotthardt just about cleaned up in the third set, checking out for the win with an unorthodox D3, 1, D2 checkout.
Gotthardt will now take on Stephen Bunting in the second round on Friday.
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