Hosts Germany produced a sparkling display to underline their title credentials at the World Cup of Darts, as two-time champions Wales also tasted victory in Frankfurt last night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group stage of the 40-nation event saw the opening 12 matches take place at the Eissporthalle, with Republic of Ireland, Austria and Poland among the other high-profile winners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietreczko stole the show on home soil, averaging 101.9 in a four-leg demolition of the Philippines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
German number one Schindler led their charge with a staggering 120.69 individual average, and the fifth seeds will now advance through Group A with victory over New Zealand on Friday evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jonny Clayton produced a finishing masterclass in Wales\u2019 4-1 thumping of Lithuania, as he and Nick Kenny landed all four of their attempts at a double.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clayton followed up a 146 checkout in leg four with a double-double 100 finish to seal the deal, as Wales opened their bid for a third World Cup of Darts crown in style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nevertheless, Australia – the only other former champions in opening night action – suffered a deciding-leg defeat against American duo Adam Sevada and Stowe Buntz, as 2022 winner Damon Heta succumbed alongside newcomer Adam Leek in Group G.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mensur Suljovic \u2013 one of two ever-presents in this year\u2019s field \u2013 steered two-time runners-up Austria to a winning start in Group I, as Suljovic and Rusty-Jake Rodriguez averaged 97 in a 4-1 win against China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was also success for two Asian nations on Thursday evening, as last year\u2019s quarter-finalists Hong Kong and 2019 semi-finalists Japan celebrated significant victories at the Eissporthalle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Man Lok Leung and Lok Yin Lee continued their World Cup love-affair with a 4-2 win over Belgium in Group B, after defying a late fightback from Mike De Decker and Dimitri Van den Bergh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hong Kong raced into a commanding 3-0 lead, and although De Decker – who averaged 106 in defeat – inspired a spirited revival from the Belgians, Hong Kong fired in a timely 14-dart hold to triumph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Japanese duo Motomu Sakai and Haruki Muramatsu fought back brilliantly to defeat Croatia 4-3 in a high-quality Group K encounter, converting 80% of their attempts at double to prevail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Muramatsu produced three clinical finishes – including a skin-saving 81 on the bull in the penultimate leg – before Sakai landed a timely maximum and pinned double 12 to seal victory with a 13-darter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Poland\u2019s highly-fancied pairing of Krzysztof Ratajski and Sebastian Bialecki also impressed in Frankfurt, powering past Portugal 4-1 to underline their status as a major contender for the title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2019 finalists Republic of Ireland defeated a spirited Singapore by the same scoreline in Group D, as World Cup ever-present William O\u2019Connor and Mickey Mansell took a huge step towards reaching the knockout stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Singapore \u2013 captained by 72-year-old icon Paul Lim – took an early lead courtesy of a sublime 170 checkout from Phuay Wei Tan, only for the Irish duo to respond with a four-leg flurry in the latter stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Czechia enjoyed the perfect start to their campaign, with Adam Gawlas averaging north of 115 to inspire his nation to a whitewash victory against India in Group H.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Latvia\u2019s World Cup stalwart Madars Razma led his side to a 4-2 success against Italy, as he and Valters Melderis reeled off three consecutive legs to move top of Group J.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elsewhere, two-time quarter-finalists Sweden overcame South Africa 4-2 in an attritional Group F clash, while Norway edged past Finland in a gruelling seven-leg affair to seize the initiative in Group L.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The losing nations from Thursday\u2019s opening games will play the third team from each group on Friday afternoon, before the decisive final group games are contested in a bumper evening session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following the conclusion of the group stage, the draw for the last 16 will take place tonight, as the top four seeds England, Netherlands, Northern Ireland and Scotland enter the fray in round two on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RESULTS Germany 4-0 Philippines (A)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hong Kong 4-2 Belgium (B) <\/p>\n\n\n\n Wales 4-1 Lithuania (C)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republic of Ireland 4-1 Singapore (D)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Poland 4-1 Portugal (E)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sweden 4-2 South Africa (F)<\/p>\n\n\n\n USA 4-3 Australia (G)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Czechia 4-0 India (H)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Austria 4-1 China (I)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Latvia 4-2 Italy (J)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Japan 4-3 Croatia (K)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Norway 4-3 Finland (L) Hosts Germany produced a sparkling display to underline their title credentials at the World Cup of Darts, as<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-13702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-darts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Germany-darts-.jpg",1988,1153,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Germany-darts--150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Germany-darts--300x174.jpg",300,174,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Germany-darts--768x445.jpg",640,371,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Germany-darts--1024x594.jpg",640,371,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Germany-darts--1536x891.jpg",1536,891,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Germany-darts-.jpg",1988,1153,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Germany-darts--825x575.jpg",825,575,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Germany-darts--590x410.jpg",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Newsbeat<\/a>","tag_info":"Newsbeat","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Germany-darts-.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13702"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13704,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13702\/revisions\/13704"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Seeded Nation v Team 2<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"