Sandro Eric Sosing was stung by a devastating turn of events on Friday, with chest pains forcing him to withdraw from his World Darts Championship opener and go to the hospital instead.
Sosing pulled out of the tournament on medical grounds only minutes before he was due to head out on stage for a match with Ian White. The Filipino thrower qualified for darts’ showpiece event courtesy of his runner-up finish at the PDC Asian Championship.
And he would have been guaranteed a £7,500 payout just for making it to the first round, even if world No. 57 White had beaten him on the Alexandra Palace stage.
However, due to Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) rules, Sosing will not receive a penny following his withdrawal. Rule 4.17 states: « A player who qualifies for the main draw but does not then participate is not eligible for prize money awarded in that event. »
The rule not only impacts Sosing financially, it also stops him shooting up from 225th in the world into the top 150. PDC rankings are determined by prize money won in ranking tournaments over a rolling two-year period, and the £7,500 windfall due to first-round losers at the Ally Pally is enough to make a big difference in the lower realms of the list.
Sosing’s countryman, Alexis Toylo, was on hand to provide a positive update about his condition on Saturday.
« He is doing well at the moment, » he said. « So far all the investigations have been good. Hopefully we will have more updates. »
Sosing’s slated first-round opponent, White, was given a bye into the second round, where he will play reigning European Championship victor Ritchie Edhouse. And the winner of that match will come back to play the favourite for the world title, Luke Littler, after Christmas.
Littler started slowly against Ryan Meikle on Saturday night before putting together a monstrous final set, blowing his opponent away with an average of 140.91. The three legs it took to win it were put to bed in 11, 10 and 11 darts respectively.
The emotion of the occasion then got too much for ‘The Nuke’, who cut his Sky Sports interview short before explaining in the post-match press conference: « As soon as the question came on stage, boom, the tears came. It was just a bit too much to speak on stage. It is the worst game I have played, I have never felt anything like that tonight. »
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