Among the surprising gifts bestowed upon us by the World Darts Championship this year has been the performance of 63-year-old Paul Lim, who gracefully bowed out of the tournament against Gary Anderson last night. He did, however, come agonisingly close to marking his exit with a moment of perfection.
Back in 1990, Lim became the first player to complete a flawless, nine-dart finish at Alexandra Palace and fell millimeters short of completing the circle last night.
The first eight darts all landed, only for the final throw to land exasperatingly wide of double 12.
Anderson ended up snatching that leg from Lim, and he went on to win the match 4-1. Watch it below.
SO CLOSE TO PERFECTION | Paul Lim talks through what would have been a moment in darting history....#WHdarts #LoveTheDarts pic.twitter.com/4Ikgh2O9PL
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 22, 2017
Speaking after, Anderson admitted that he had hoped his opponent had landed the double 12.
I'd have loved it. You couldn't argue with. Everybody writes him off, but at 63-years old, he's still playing good darts. So if you are writing him off, have a word with yourself.
Lim, meanwhile, admitted that he will be haunted by the failure to hit that double 12.
I tell you what, I can't breathe. I'm going to have nightmares tonight I'll tell you that.
Elsewhere, Michael Van Gerwen sounded a warning to the rest of the competition with a flawless 4-0 win over James Wilson, in which he won all 12 legs.
