There were wins for Kyle Anderson, Ciarán Teehan, Brendan Dolan and Darius Labanauskas
Sunday 15 December 2019 19:50, UK
Ian White became the third high profile casualty at the 2020 PDC World Championship in the space of 24 hours, after a 3-1 loss to Darius Labanauskas.
Following the shock exits of Raymond van Barneveld and Rob Cross on Saturday night, ninth seed White followed them out of the competition, as he fell at the first hurdle for the second consecutive year.
In a bizarre game on the Ally Pally oche, White averaged 100.33 (four more than his Lithuanian opponent), hit 57.14 per cent of his doubles (compared to Lucky D's 37.13 per cent) and only trailed 8-9 in legs.
However, Labanauskas hit all the shots that mattered, and progressed on a 3-1 scoreline.
Meanwhile, it was a fruitful afternoon for the Irish contingent, as Brendan Dolan and Ciarán Teehan progressed to the second round.
Dolan never moved out of second gear as he dispatched of Nitin Kumar 3-0 with ease, setting up a Monday night meeting with Gary Anderson. The History Maker will fancy his chances of stunning the Flying Scotsman, who has struggled for form in 2019.
20-year-old Teehan enjoyed a dream debut at the World Championship, storming to a 3-0 victory over Ross Smith. The Cork native impressed throughout the match, as he threw five 180s during a brilliant bow. The youngster will now take on Mervyn King on Friday.
"[I'm] delighted," he said to Sky Sports after the match. "It's great for my family and friends as well. I'd a good crowd come over to support me. Even to be here is unreal, but to get the win on the stage is even better.
"I started playing at 12, but I suppose at about 16 onwards, my dream was to be a professional. And once you're a professional, you want to play in things like this. It can't get any bigger than this. It's brilliant. I'm really enjoying it, I must say."
Record Irish field headed for the Ally Pally
In the first game of the session, Kyle Anderson staged a comeback to clinch victory over Xiaochen Zong of China. The 'Original' looked to be in real trouble when he fell two sets behind, but perhaps a lack of big-stage experience was telling as Zong faded as the match progressed.
Coverage of the PDC World Championship continues on Sunday evening on Sky Sports Darts from 7pm and the action continues through to the final on New Year's Day. If you are out and about you can follow with regular updates, clips, features & reports at skysports.com/darts, our app for mobile devices and @SkySportsDarts
