Paul Lim will be back on the World Cup stage in Frankfurt from June 11-14, and Singapore will ask the 71-year-old to help carry them through a tricky Group D. Lim, who stunned darts fans by winning a first-round match at Alexandra Palace in 2025, is set to play alongside Phuay Wei Tan as the tournament moves onto Sky Sports.
That is why his name still draws attention. Lim remains one of the sport’s most recognisable figures after hitting the first nine-darter in World Championship history in 1990, and his return to Alexandra Palace in 2025, after a two-year absence, reminded viewers why he has lasted so long at the top level. Rod Studd captured that sense of longevity on air with the line: “The oldest slinger in town wins again on the Ally Pally stage,” after Lim beat Jeffrey de Graaf before falling to Luke Humphries in the second round.
The wider event has its own pull. England, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland and Scotland head the field as the top four seeds, with Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, Gian van Veen, Michael van Gerwen, Josh Rock, Daryl Gurney, Gary Anderson and Cameron Menzies among the headline names spread across those teams. But the World Cup of Darts also has room for players who turn into cult favourites, and Motomu Sakai did exactly that in Alexandra Palace this year with his walk-on dance moves before beating Thibault Tricole 3-0 in the first round.
For Singapore, though, the next step looks difficult rather than romantic. Ireland are the eighth seeds and Uganda complete Group D, which leaves Lim and Tan needing to find a way through a section that offers little margin for error. Lim has already shown he can still win on the big stage, but Frankfurt will test whether that form can travel into a team event where one slip can end the run quickly.
The tournament begins in Frankfurt on June 11 and the first answer arrives there: whether Singapore can survive the group stage, or whether Lim’s latest appearance becomes another reminder of how much life there is still in one of darts’ most familiar names.
