| Fadhil Yunus |
BRUNEI Darussalam darts player Pengiran Mohamed bin Pengiran Haji Matarsad has been handed a tricky tie against Gary Robson (pic, AP) in the preliminary round of the 2018 Lakeside BDO World Professional Darts Championship to be held at the Lakeside Country Club in Frimley Green, Surrey from January 6-14 next year.
Pengiran Mohamed gained entry to the world championship after winning the Asian qualifiers in Kuala Lumpur earlier this year, becoming the first from his country to compete in the world stage.
Pengiran Mohamed will be hoping to enter the first round in the competition with victory.
The Bruneian was initially handed a draw against 2017 World Masters winner Krzysztof Ratajski but the Polish declined an invitation to play in the world championship in an attempt to qualify for the rival 2018 PDC World Darts Championship.
Gary Robson, ranked number 26 in the world, has been a frequent competitor in the world championship, though he has not progressed past the second round since 2011 when he was stopped in his tracks by Martin Philipps in the quarterfinals.
The Cramlington-born player reached the last eight of the championship three times including in 2007 and 2009 and also won the now-defunct World Darts Trophy in 2005.
Robson, dubbed as Big Robbo, first debuted in the World Championship in 2001 when he was beaten by four-time champion Raymond Van Barneveld in the first round.
Pengiran Mohamed, the only Asian player in the field, will be playing the match which is the first to three sets in the last 40, against supposedly one of the highest ranked players in the preliminary round.
The Asian qualifying winner was joined in the 2018 BDO World Championship by qualifiers from other regions namely Australia, Baltic/Scandinavia, Canada, Eastern Europe, New Zealand, USA and Western Europe.
The top 24 seeds have been drawn in the first round, while the 25th and 26th seeds have to take a longer route in the preliminary round.
Netherlands’s Danny Noppert, who reached the final in 2017, also had to compete in the preliminary round.
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