Michael Smith Shocked by Kevin Doets in World Championship Exit

Michael Smith suffered a shock elimination from the PDC World Championship, losing 3-2 to Kevin Doets in a thrilling second-round clash. Smith, seeded second went down 6-4 in the deciding set, despite impressive checkouts of 123, 84, 94 and 76. Doets the world number 51 held his nerve throughout the tense encounter and avenged his loss to Smith in the same round last year. “This was the most stressful game of my life, and I’ve won it,” said Doets. Smith’s defeat marked his first second-round exit since 2020 and he will now drop out of the top 10 in the world rankings.

In other matches, England’s Scott Williams produced a comeback to defeat Niko Springer 3-1 in a thrilling contest. Springer won the first set but Williams responded with seven 180s in the third set to secure the victory. He will face 2018 champion Rob Cross in the second round. Nick Kenny thrilled the Ally Pally crowd with a stunning 170 finish to seal a 3-0 win over American Stowe Buntz. He will meet five-time world champion Raymond Barneveld on Saturday. Canadian Matt Campbell edged Austrian Mensur Suljovic 3-2 to set up a second-round match against Ryan Searle.

Callan Rydz produced the tournament’s highest first-round average of 107.06 to defeat Croatia’s Romeo Grbavac 3-0. Rydz will face Germany’s Martin Schindler in round two. Meanwhile, Wales’ Robert Owen pulled off a 3-1 upset over Germany’s 27th seed Gabriel Clemens to advance to the third round. Hong Kong’s Lok Yin Lee overcame Chris Landman 3-1, and Martin Lukeman bounced back from a set down to defeat India’s Nitin Kumar 3-1.