Paul Lim
Personal information
Full namePaul Lim Leong Hwa
林良華
Nickname"The Singapore Slinger"
Born (1954-01-25) 25 January 1954
Singapore
Darts information
Playing darts since1973
Darts21g Target
LateralityRight-handed
Walk-on music"Walk of Life" by Dire Straits preceded opening from "Fanfare for the Common Man" by Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO1980–1994
PDC1994–
WDF1980–1994, 2019–
WDF major events – best performances
World Ch'shipQuarter Final: 1990
World MastersLast 16: 1981, 1985, 1987, 1988
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'shipLast 16: 2001
World MatchplayQuarter Final: 1995
World Grand PrixLast 16: 1998, 1999
Desert ClassicLast 32: 2004
US Open/WSoDLast 64: 2008, 2010
WSDT major events – best performances
World Ch'shipLast 24: 2022
World MastersLast 20: 2022
Other tournament wins
Australian Grand Masters 1983
Bud Brick Memorial 2022
Camellia Classic 1994
Colorado Open 2005
Darts America 1986, 1990
Golden Gate Classic 1987
Hong Kong Open 1989, 1992,
1998, 2000, 2001
Houston Open 1980, 1987, 1995
Japan Open 2022
Los Angeles Open 1987, 1993
Malaysian Open 1980
Oregon Open 1999
Singapore Open 1992, 1993
Virginia Beach Classic 1992, 1998
PDC Asian Tour 2018, 2019 (x2), 2023
PDC Asia Qualifier 2017
Bullshooter World Ch'ship 1996
Dartslive France 2017
Dartslive Hong Kong 2012
Dartslive Korea 2016
Dartslive Taipei 2016
THE WORLD 2011
Ulaanbaatar Open 2023
Other achievements
First player to achieve nine dart finish at World Championships (1990)
Medal record
Men's Darts
Representing  Papua New Guinea
WDF Asia-Pacific Cup
Gold medal – first place 1980 Newcastle Men's singles
Gold medal – first place 1980 Newcastle Team event
Gold medal – first place 1984 Honolulu Men's singles
Gold medal – first place 1986 Auckland Men's singles
Representing  United States
WDF Asia-Pacific Cup
Gold medal – first place 1988 Tokyo Team event
Gold medal – first place 1990 Singapore Mixed pairs
Gold medal – first place 1990 Singapore Team event
Gold medal – first place 1990 Singapore Men's overall
Silver medal – second place 1990 Singapore Men's singles
Silver medal – second place 1990 Singapore Men's pairs
Representing  Singapore
IDF World Ch'ship
Silver medal – second place 2013 Shanghai Men's singles
Representing  Hong Kong
WDF World Cup
Silver medal – second place 2019 Cluj Men's team
Updated on 19 November 2007.

Paul Lim Leong Hwa[1] (born 25 January 1954) is a Singaporean professional darts player. He was the first player to hit a perfect nine-dart finish during the Embassy World Darts Championship, which he achieved in 1990 during his second round match against Jack McKenna. Lim won £52,000 for his nine-darter, which was £28,000 more than Phil Taylor won for winning the tournament. Lim's was the only nine-dart finish in a world championship match until 2009, when Raymond van Barneveld completed one against Jelle Klaasen. It was also the only nine-dart finish ever achieved at the BDO World Darts Championship.

Lim represented four countries in darts; Singapore was not affiliated with the sport's governing body, the World Darts Federation (WDF), so Lim initially played for Papua New Guinea, but later settled in California and represented the United States in international competition, before also playing for his native country when they became a WDF playing nation. Lim has also represented Singapore at the PDC World Cup of Darts, and in the 2017 PDC World Cup of Darts, he and his teammate Harith Lim, reached the quarter-finals, defeating the top seeds Scotland (Gary Anderson and Peter Wright) in the first round. However, in the 2019 WDF World Cup he represented Hong Kong.

Career

Early career

He made his World Championship debut in 1982, losing a first-round match to Dave Whitcombe. He failed to progress beyond the second round for the next seven years – losing to the likes of Cliff Lazarenko (twice), Bob Anderson, Mike Gregory, and John Lowe (three times). Then in 1990 he hit the headlines and jackpot as he achieved the first World Championship nine-dart finish against Jack McKenna in the second round on 9 January. The bonus prize of £52,000 was more than eventual tournament winner Phil Taylor claimed for becoming world champion. It was the only year that Lim reached the quarter-finals of the event, losing again to Lazarenko.

He continued to come up against the biggest names in the game in the world championship: Alan Warriner, John Part (en route to the 1994 title), and Lowe defeated him again in the years after his nine-darter.

Lim decided to switch to darts' other organisation, the World Darts Council (now PDC) later in 1994 and made his debut at the 1994 World Matchplay. Lim never enjoyed any success in the PDC – he won only one match in the PDC World Championship, despite appearing in the tournament each year between 1997 and 2002. Although he no longer competes on the darts circuit full-time, Lim still competes at tournaments in his home country. He reached the last 16 of the Las Vegas Open in January 2007.[2]

He won many titles in and around his native country including five Singapore Opens, five Malaysian Opens, and five Asian Cups, but his failure to reach the final stages of the British Darts Organisation and Professional Darts Corporation major tournaments has meant he will be best remembered for his 1990 nine-dart achievement.

Later career

Lim made his first appearance in the World Championships for 11 years after being awarded a place in the 2013 PDC World Darts Championship, as a result of being the World Soft Tip Champion. He beat Mohd Latif Sapup in the preliminary round 4–1 to set up a first-round match against second favourite for the tournament Michael van Gerwen. Lim lost 3–0, despite hitting the tournament's first 170 finish as well as twelve scores of 140 or more during the match.[3] Lim qualified for the 2014 World Championship via the International Qualifiers. He was drawn against Japan's Morihiro Hashimoto in the preliminary round and was beaten 4–2.[4]

Lim made his debut in the 2014 World Cup of Darts as he represented Singapore with Harith Lim (no relation). They won five legs in a row in the opening round against Ireland to progress with a 5–3 win.[5] In the second round Paul lost to South Africa's Devon Petersen, but Harith beat Graham Filby to mean a doubles match was required to settle the tie. Singapore were edged out 4–3, but never had a dart for the match.[6] Lim lost in the final of the 2015 French Dartslive event to Leonard Gates, but won the Soft Tip Qualifier for the 2016 World Championship for the second time by seeing off Boris Krčmar 4–2 in the final.[7] He went on to play Aleksandr Oreshkin in the preliminary round and missed two match darts in a 2–1 set defeat.[8] Lim and Harith made it to the second round of the 2016 World Cup, but lost their singles matches 4–2 to Austria's Mensur Suljović and Rowby-John Rodriguez.[9] Lim won the Soft Tip Dartslive events in Taipei and Korea during the year.[10]

In the first round of the 2017 World Cup Lim and Harith met the number one seeds of Scotland represented by Gary Anderson and Peter Wright. A 100 finish from Lim completed a huge 5–2 shock victory for Singapore and they then whitewashed Spain 4–0 in a doubles match to make it through to the quarter-finals of the event for the first time.[11] Lim lost 4–1 to Belgium's Kim Huybrechts (who averaged 121.97), but Harith defeated Ronny Huybrechts 4–2. Singapore's tournament was ended in the deciding doubles match as Belgium progressed 4–2.[12]

In the 2018 PDC World Darts Championship, he defeated Kai Fan Leung, and number 30 seed Mark Webster to set up a second round clash with Gary Anderson. He lost the match 4-1 and also missed double 12 for a nine dart finish.[13] In the 2018 PDC World Cup of Darts, he again paired up with Harith, where they defeated New Zealand 5-3 to set up a second round clash with England. In the first round, Paul defeated world champion Rob Cross 4-2 with an average of 102.29. However, Harith lost his singles match to Dave Chisnall, meaning a doubles match was required which they lost 4-1.[14][15]

Lim qualified for the 2019 PDC World Darts Championship by finishing 5th on the PDC Asian Tour.[16] He lost to Ross Smith in round 1, After a successful 2019 Asian Tour, finishing 3rd this enabled him to qualify for the 2020 PDC World Darts Championship

Lim took part in the 2019 WDF World Cup representing Hong Kong instead of Singapore.

World Championship results

BDO/WDF

  • 1982: First round (lost to Dave Whitcombe 0–2)
  • 1983: Second round (lost to Cliff Lazarenko 1–3)
  • 1984: First round (lost to Mike Gregory 0–2)
  • 1985: First round (lost to Cliff Lazarenko 0–2)
  • 1986: Second round (lost to Peter Locke 0–3)
  • 1987: Second round (lost to Bob Anderson 1–3)
  • 1988: Second round (lost to John Lowe 1–3)
  • 1989: Second round (lost to John Lowe 2–3)
  • 1990: Quarter-finals (lost to Cliff Lazarenko 0–4)
  • 1991: First round (lost to Alan Warriner-Little 0–3)
  • 1992: Second round (lost to John Lowe 0–3)
  • 1994: Second round (lost to John Part 0–3)

PDC

WSDT

Career statistics

Performance timeline

Tournament 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
BDO Ranked televised events
BDO World Championship DNQ 1R 2R 1R 1R 2R 2R 2R 2R QF 1R 2R DNQ 2R DNP NH DNQ
World Masters Prel. 3R 3R 2R 1R 4R 2R 4R 4R 3R DNP Prel. DNP 2R DNP NH DNQ
MFI World Matchplay Not held DNP 1R QF 1R 1R Not held
PDC Ranked televised events
PDC World Championship Not yet founded DNP RR RR 1R 1R 2R 1R DNP 1R Prel. DNP Prel. DNP 2R 1R 1R 2R 1R DNQ
World Matchplay Not held 2R QF 2R 2R 1R 1R DNP 1R DNP
World Grand Prix Not held 1R RR DNP
PDC Non-ranked televised events
PDC World Cup of Darts Not held DNP NH DNP 2R 1R 2R QF 2R 2R WD 2R 1R RR
PDC Past major events
Las Vegas Desert Classic Not held DNP 1R DNP Not held
Career statistics
Year-end ranking PDC not yet founded 25 16 12 14 17 20 25 32 38 77 142 177 412 413 186 182 146 157 101 92 - 155 - 103 133 138 105 126 -
Performance timeline legend
DNP Did not play in the event #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(RR = Round robin)		 QF lost in the quarter-finals
SF lost in the semi-finals F lost in the final W won the tournament

WDF major finals: 4 (3 titles, 1 runner-up)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 1980 Asia-Pacific Cup Singles United States Jerry Umberger unknown
Winner 2. 1984 Asia-Pacific Cup Singles Australia Terry O'Dea unknown
Winner 3. 1986 Asia-Pacific Cup Singles United States Len Heard unknown
Runner-up 1. 1990 Asia-Pacific Cup Singles Canada Albert Anstey unknown

Nine-dart finishes

Paul Lim was the first player to manage a nine-dart finish in a world championship. He was the only player to achieve it at the BDO world championship. Lim won £52,000 which was more than tournament winner Phil Taylor who received £24,000.

Paul Lim televised nine-dart finishes
Date Opponent Tournament Method Prize
9 January 1990 Republic of Ireland Jack McKenna BDO World Darts Championship 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 £52,000

References

  1. ↑ Brown, Derek (1981). Guinness Book of Darts. London: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. ISBN 0-85112-229-9.
  2. ↑ "Las Vegas Open results". Archived from the original on 24 February 2017. Retrieved 14 February 2007.
  3. ↑ "Ladbrokes WDC Day Seven". PDC. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  4. ↑ "Ladbrokes World Championship Day Six". PDC. 18 December 2013.
  5. ↑ "bwin World Cup of Darts First Round". PDC. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
  6. ↑ "bwin World Cup of Darts Second Round". PDC. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
  7. ↑ "2015 Soft Tip Dartslive France Player Prize Money". Darts Database. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  8. ↑ "William Hill World Championship Day Four". PDC. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  9. ↑ "Betway World Cup of Darts Round Two". PDC. Archived from the original on 28 October 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
  10. ↑ "Paul Lim 2016". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 23 December 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
  11. ↑ ""Dream Come True" For Lim". PDC. Archived from the original on 12 June 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  12. ↑ "Dutch Delight In Betway World Cup of Darts". PDC. Archived from the original on 12 June 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  13. ↑ "2018 PDC World Championship Results".
  14. ↑ "2018 Betway World Cup Day Three".
  15. ↑ "2018 PDC World Cup of Darts Results".
  16. ↑ "World Championship: Lim Among Asian Tour Qualifiers".
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