Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Four-time semi-finalist James Wade crashed out of the World Darts Championship at the first hurdle as he was thrashed 3-0 by Jermaine Wattimena.
Wade, the 16th seed, won the first leg of the round two contest at Alexandra Palace, but lost the next eight in succession as Wattimena turned on the style.
The Dutchman hit a superb 126 finish to move within one leg of victory and although Wade held his nerve to hit double 20 with his last dart to stay alive, the left-hander crucially missed four darts at double 10 in the next leg.
Wattimena, who reached the final of the European Championship in October, made no such mistake on double eight to seal a quickfire win.
England’s Luke Woodhouse enjoyed a 3-0 victory over Lourence Ilagan in the first round, although he was booed for turning down a chance at the highest possible checkout.
Woodhouse, who won the first seven legs in succession before Ilagan finally got off the mark with a 103 finish, needed 170 to complete victory and hit successive treble 20s, but refused to go for the bull.
The crowd made their feelings known but Woodhouse had the last laugh as he took out 32 on his next visit to seal a comfortable victory.
Germany’s Kai Gotthardt overcame a broken dart as he marked his tournament debut with a 3-1 win over Scotland’s Alan Soutar.
The barrel of one of Gotthardt’s darts snapped in half during the fourth leg of the first set, won by Soutar, but Gotthardt stormed back to take the next three sets in succession.
In the first match of the day, Holland’s Wesley Plaisier recovered from 2-1 down to beat Japan’s Ryusei Azemoto 3-2 and set up a second-round meeting with former champion Peter Wright.
